Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Two Faces of January and What If

The only summer blockbuster that I found enticing was Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. And now, some weeks later, the most memorable part of this film was the music composed by Michael Giaccino. There are so many sequences that involve just the apes and where dialogue is at a minimum that the music is so important. It doesn't disappoint. For the film to remain interesting for these vast chunks of what is almost a throwback to a silent movie is a credit to both the director Matt Reeves, and the huge (and I mean huge) team working on special effects and creating the apes. If only the actors could have matched Andy Serkis in bringing them to life. He deserves an Oscar.

In the midst of a summer of blockbusters, super hero, childrens movies and gross out comedies, I found a promising thriller on Wednesday morning Senior Screen that I had missed first time around. I never did work out why it had the title "Two Faces of January". It had the making of a very good movie. A popular novel by Patricia Highsmith, was adapted by herself with a  experienced screenwriter Hossein Amini. A good cast with Kirsten Dunst, Viggo Mortensen and Oscar Isaac (unrecognisable from Inside Llewyn Davis) and a perfect setting of Greece and it's islands. So why was it so boring? One reason may have been that the direction was handed to Amini, his first film in that role. So whether he had problems with the adaptation with Highsmith, or his relationship withe the actors, but the outcome was the dialogue was really poor when it could have been great. At least there was a visit to the ruins of Knossos on Crete where we went all those years ago.

What If was the opposite. The play Toothpaste and Cigars (???) by T.J. Dawe and Michael Rinaldi has been perfectly adapted by Elan Mastai. I guess it was a bit of a gamble picking Daniel Radcliffe for the lead role but he does pretty well despite the very mixed reviews. Comparisons have been made with High Grant, but Radcliffe is different. not such a good actor, but projects a strange goofy warmth that has you smiling most of the time he is on screen. Weird? The rest of the cast is OK. Zoe Kazan playing the female lead is OK, somehow it felt like her heart wasnt quite with it. Maybe she should stick to writing. Michael Dowse directs with gusto and there are plenty of amusing situations to make the most of. A quite reasonable result.