Zack and Miri Trailer at Yahoo

This is the tame version so it's pretty SFW. If you want to check out the less censored (and funnier) version, go here for the red band trailer. I'm really impressed with Craig Robinson and Jeff Anderson. They practically steal the show.

I've noticed that the Planet of the Apes movies have been playing a lot on tv recently, so I decided to invest a little time in seeing what it's all about. I had only seen the original movie. In its first sequel, Charlton Heston's character, Taylor, travels with his girl Zira and they come across a visual phenomenon that Taylor decides to explore and disappears. Poor Zira heads back home and comes across Brent, an astronaut who has come to find out what happened to Taylor and his crew. Together, they try to find some answers but have to hurry because the apes are about to declare an all-out war on humans. When Brent and Zira head further out into the forbidden zone, they discover that there's an even bigger danger looming in front of them.

Brent is played by James Franciscus, who has almost the exact same physical build of Heston, only he's prettier. So, score one for the ladies (I always thought Heston had a good build but was scary in the teeth). Actually, I thought Franciscus did a good job accepting this sort of imitation role and making it his own. It seems to me like he would have made a decent movie star, but looking at his history he spent more time working in television.

If you think the plot of Planet of the Apes is out-there, then Beneath the Planet of the Apes takes that out-there and raises it to crazy. It works for a while, but I'll admit that the final portion of the movie feels a little bit too much like an episode of the original Star Trek series. In the end, I had to realize that this is sci-fi, and all of the PotA movies like to go to extremes and really try to make the audience think about issues of their times. As in the first movie, the ending comes very abruptly and it's up to the individual to decide whether or not they like it. Ric was disappointed. I was surprised by it, but went with it. After all, it led to an interesting premise for the next sequel.

One thing I noticed is that, while the movie does feel a little bit like a Star Trek episode, it doesn't look quite as cheaply budgeted. The sets are fully realized, the costumes are diverse and interesting, and obviously the makeup is an achievement (as they were in the first movie). Even the music is very good, and keeps the tension running along with the movie's characters. What keeps the movie from being too cheesy is a script full of ideas, not just in the wow factor, but in thinking about human behavior.

I'm still digesting the movie to form my complete opinion of it, but I think it was a good segway film to lead to the next movie in the series, which I'll cover in a bit. My overall response is positive, although its impact certainly isn't as strong as the original's.

Tropic Thunder was a movie I was really looking forward to based on the previews, but then it had a lot of backlash from certain critics and the media was all over how people protested the film. I wasn't sure whether I should see it, but we were bored on Labor Day and nothing else piqued our interested, and I had a free movie ticket, so at the worst, we were spending $5 a piece to see it. The story is about the cast and crew of a movie that tells the story of a Vietnam rescue mission. The cast is full of arrogant actors and the movie is over budget within the first few days of filming, so the director decides to put them in a realistic setting and shoot the movie from cameras in the trees. Of course, everything goes wrong the second this decision is made, and the cast and crew are trumping through the wrong part of the jungle - half of them thinking they're lost while a couple think they are filming according to plan.

The movie stars a lot of comedic favorites, including Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, and Steve Coogan. RDJ wins the prize, since his character is an Australian (obviously inspired by Russell Crowe) character actor who fully immerses himself in his roles; he undergoes treatments to darken the pigment of his skin and is constantly talking like how he thinks his African American character should be portrayed. It's absolutely ridiculous, but it's funny too. Stiller is funny as an action star who has been popular in the past but needs to bring back his career. In a way, he reminds me of Nicholas Cage. Actually, the spoofs on Hollywood and its actors are probably the funniest bits in this movie. It starts out with fake previews of movies the actors have done in the past, mocks agents and producers, and targets action movie cliches as well. When it's focused on these things, Tropic Thunder is at its best. I didn't have a problem with the mental retardation jokes because I think they were a parody of how movies about people who have mental retardation can often miss the mark. RDJ's character's monologue on which kind of role can score an actor an Oscar was particularly funny to me, especially when he brought up I Am Sam.

Of course, the movie isn't always focused on these things, and that's where the humor fell a little flat. I think there are many laughter dry spells, and resorting to bodily humor and thinking that any actor could be as incredibly stupid as some of these are aren't really all that funny. On the other hand, when the movie's not trying to be funny, Ben Stiller (who directed the movie) is actually able to get some decent action sequences together, which do make it more exciting, and thus makes up for some of the lag.

I will admit that Tropic Thunder was a bit of a disappointment, because there are so many smart comedians involved that I expected the movie to be a smarter parody or include more clever dialog. It's also a lot cruder than I expected, which to me just isn't effective humor. It seems a little bit more like something to fill space between the good jokes or funny scenes. Even still, there are moments of unexpected laughs (see what happens to the director early on in the movie) and exciting action and special effects that redeem it to a certain degree. I wouldn't put it at the top of any lists, but it may be worth your while at the cheap theater, if you've got a thick skin.