FILM LISTINGS
[ film + TV ]
The Godfather Trilogy A binge series you
can’t refuse. The Godfather at 2 pm; The Godfather Part II at 5:30 pm; The Godfather Part III at 9:15 pm. Saturday, 2 pm; Garden Theatre, 160 W. Plant St., Winter Garden; $8-$18; 407-877-4736; gardentheatre.org. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly A bounty-
hunting scam unites two men in an uneasy alliance against a third man in a race to find a fortune in gold. Thursday, 7 pm; Garden Theatre, 160 W. Plant St., Winter Garden; $8; 407-877-4736; gardentheatre.org. The Hero Sam Elliott stars as an aging for-
mer TV star who has to examine his life in the wake of unexpected news. Through TBA; Enzian Theater, 1300 S. Orlando Ave., Maitland; $11; 407-629-0054; enzian.org. KidFest: Arctic Tale A polar bear cub and
a young walrus experience the effects of global warming. Tuesday, 3 pm; Enzian Theater, 1300 S. Orlando Ave., Maitland; free; 407-629-0054; enzian.org.
APES TOGETHER STRONG
ple away as refugees to a place of hoped-for safety. Nothing goes as planned, and even greater human-fueled disaster strikes the apes, but the plot, as fine and as gripping as it is, feels secondary in consequence to how simply engrossing all those nonhuman primate characters are. This is particularly true of the beautiful mo-cap and voice perWar caps off the most consistently satisfying formance by Steve Zahn that imbues Bad sci-fi trilogy in years Ape, a solitary chimp zoo survivor whom BY MARYA N N JOHAN SON Caesar encounters, with grand pathos and sweet eager humor: He is a creature – a quick recap: First there was 2011’s are human. (That those bad guys have a few person – who has been driven a little mad by loneliness and is now overenthusiastic Rise of the Planet of the Apes, in turncoat ape helpers is also incidental.) Just on a level of pure cinematic sto- in his enjoyment of new company. And he which sad scientist James Franco accidentally created a genius ape in Caesar, rytelling, War for the Planet of the Apes is is a sheer delight. I cannot recall another movie that wasn’t and his colleague mad scientists acciden- a marvel, then: The empathy machine of tally created and released a supervirus that movies works to turns us against our own a Pixar cartoon that so convincingly put killed most of humanity. Then there was species, and engages us wholly with mul- nonhumans at its center. That alone would 2014’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, set 10 tiple other species: chimps, gorillas and make War for the Planet of the Apes a years later, in which the uneasy détente orangutans. This is partly a function of the triumph of science fiction storytelling on between the growing new civilization of smart screenwriting – by director Matt the big screen. But its unspoken yet expansmart apes and a small cluster of surviv- Reeves and Mark Bomback, both returning sive philosophy about the personhood of ing humans was shattered by mistrust and from Dawn – but far more one of aston- nonhuman beings and its unexpectedly ishing CGI wizardry, which has advanced optimistic view of a nonhuman future for unhealable pain on both sides. planet Earth – so very And now we have War for the Planet dramatically even from different from previous of the Apes, set a further five years on, in only three years ago. WAR FOR THE PLANET tellings of this story – which we make the rather startling discov- The nuance of emoOF THE APES add to that triumph as ery that these movies have been telling the tion and intelligence Opens Friday, July 14 well. There are hints epic of Caesar, a sweeping tale of mytho- that crosses Caesar’s of room for a second logical scope, the creation story of apekind face, a combination trilogy, one that could and its first leader, a chimpanzee Moses. of a motion-captured recall the 1968 movie That seems fairly obvious in retrospect, performance by the yet it never felt that way until somewhere phenomenal Andy Serkis and sublime and its ’70s sequels if, we can foresee, on around the middle of this movie, when I FX work, is unconditionally realistic; that a less dystopian trajectory; there are charcame to the even more startling realization Caesar seems to have Serkis’ own soulful, acters here whose names are echoes from that almost every significant character here doleful eyes doesn’t hurt, either. We never the original films, and could become new is nonhuman. Looking back from a perch at have any doubt that Caesar is an authentic versions of the same in a future continuation of the story of Caesar’s people. And in the very moving ending of War, I see now person. The film’s story revolves around Caesar’s a triumph for Hollywood blockbusters, the that the humans in the story have been winnowed away until we root entirely for apes ape community coming under attack from a prospect of more movies in this series does here in War (that they have a small human desperate human army led by a truly chill- not fill me with dread. I’d really love to see child hanger-on is almost incidental), and ing Woody Harrelson, whose base Caesar them, in fact. that the villains, the ones we root against, sets out to infiltrate while he sends his peofeedback@orlandoweekly.com
KidFest: Modern Times Charlie Chaplin’s iconic Little Tramp is overwhelmed by the machinery at a state-of-the-art factory. Sunday, 1 pm; Enzian Theater, 1300 S. Orlando Ave., Maitland; free; 407-629-0054; enzian.org. KidFest: Space Jam NBA superstar Michael
Jordan teams up with Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes to fight an evil alien theme-park owner on the basketball court. Thursday, 3 pm; Enzian Theater, 1300 S. Orlando Ave., Maitland; free; 407-629-0054; enzian.org.
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KidFest: The 3 Worlds of Gulliver After be-
ing shipwrecked a man finds himself on an island full of tiny people. Wednesday, 3 pm; Enzian Theater, 1300 S. Orlando Ave., Maitland; free; 407-629-0054; enzian.org. Milk Money Movies: Trolls After the Bergens
invade Troll Village, Poppy, the happiest Troll ever born, teams up with the curmudgeonly Branch to rescue her friends. Tuesday, 10 am; Garden Theatre, 160 W. Plant St., Winter Garden; $2; 407-877-4736; gardentheatre.org. More Q Than A: The Elephant Man David Lynch’s 1980 film about John Merrick, a man born with severe deformities in Victorian England. Wednesday, 7 pm; The Gallery at Avalon Island, 39 S. Magnolia Ave; $5-$7; avalongallery.org. Popcorn Flicks in the Park: Beauty and the Beast Original animated feature about a girl
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who develops Stockholm syndrome and gets involved in zoophilia. Thursday, 8 pm; Central Park, Winter Park, North Park Avenue and West Morse Boulevard, Winter Park; free. The Rich Weirdoes Present: The Rocky Horror Picture Show Screening of the cult classic
with a shadow cast, props and callbacks. Friday, 11:15 pm; AMC CityWalk, 6000 Universal Blvd.; $11; richweirdoes.com. Shark Week at the Movies Special epi-
sodes of the popular Discovery Channel series. Tuesday, 7:30 pm; multiple locations; $15.98; fathomevents.com. ●
JULY 12-18, 2017
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ORLANDO WEEKLY
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