I have to admit I was somewhat hesitant to watch this movie. First of all, I am a fan of the original 1968 film with Charlton Heston and must have seen it close to half dozen times. Second, I thought I would be put off by the CGI.

   I couldn’t have been more wrong. Using motion capture in a magical manner, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a thrilling and enjoyable origin story. The international trailer is relatively short, but it does a good job in explaining what the movie is all about and what issues it explores. Scientists in search of a cure for Alzheimer’s employ an experimental medical treatment that has unforeseen consequences for man and ape alike. And we all know where this ends up.

   While the movie has a strong cast, the characters themselves unfortunately aren’t particularly well developed beyond what is necessary to service the plot. With the exception of the ape Caesar (Andy Serkis) that is. This is his movie from beginning to end. You might think the movie looks a tad overwrought. Let me assure you: unlike the disappointment that was Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes (2001), this reboot is well worth a look.

   I saw this movie mentioned on the WesternPulps group. It might be best described as a current day neo-noir western, about an elderly couple (Kevin Costner & Diane Lane) trying to get their grandson back from their widowed daughter-in-law’s family. Now playing in theaters, wherever theaters are open.

   Truth be told, this is not a great movie. Far from it. The trailer definitely shows the highlights. The exciting parts. The chilling parts. But I have to confess, despite its low production values, I happened to enjoy this quirky late 1950s horror picture for what it was. First of all, the title alone is intriguing. The movie had been on my “to watch” list for years, but I only recently got around to watching it.

   Directed by Edward L. Cahn, whose Curse of the Faceless Man I reviewed here, the movie is rather talky at times, with numerous characters either sitting or standing around talking about ancient curses, Amazon tribes, and what not. But there are some good scenes, such as the ones in which the large and lanky witch doctor (clearly seen in the trailer) surreptitiously enters houses at night to do his dirty deeds.

   Speaking of dirty deeds, this one is – if you really think of it – pretty gruesome. I mean, the whole movie revolves around the concept of beheading the descendants of a man who purportedly mistreated a tribe. Neither groundbreaking nor a snoozer, The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake is a moderately entertaining low budget horror movie. Which likely explains why it aired so often on television in the 1960s.

   I read Frank Herbert’s original novel when it was serialized in Analog SF, thought it was OK, but I never read any of the sequels — and who knew there were going to be so many of them? I also passed on both David Lynch’s movie adaptation(1984) and the 2000 Sci-Fi Channel mini-series.

   Those of you who may be bigger fans of the book than I am, what do think of the new movie coming out in December, based on the trailer below?

   Coming soon to Netflix, a movie remake for movie fans who don’t watch black and white movies. Beware: I think this trailer tells the whole story in only two and a half minutes:

Scheduled for November. Hopefully theaters will be open by then. It looks like this one needs a big screen:

   Coming to Netflix on September 23. When I first heard about the project, I was intrigued. I thought it had possibilities. Now I’m not so sure:

   My opinion? This may be a fun series to watch, but just because they call it Perry Mason doesn’t make it PERRY MASON.

   An eight-episode adaptation of H.G. Wells’ classic science fiction novel, The War of the Worlds was shown in France last year. The series will make its first appearance in the US next month (February 16th) on Epix.

   The show stars Gabriel Byrne, Elizabeth McGovern, Léa Drucker, Natasha Little, Daisy Edgar Jones, Stéphane Caillard, Adel Bencherif, and Guillaume Gouix.