DAWN OF THE PLANET OF APES (A Hollywood Science Fiction Movie)

Directed by Matt Reeves, Produced By Peter Chernin/Rick Jaffa/Dylan Clark/Amanda Silver, Music By Michael Giacchino, Cinematography By Michael Siresin, Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Starring Andy Serkis (as Caesar), Toby Kebbel (as Koba), Jason Clarke (as Malcolm), Keri Russel (as Kelli, Malcolm’s wife)

Storyline: Caesar, the leader of the Ape population living in Muir Woods, away from the virus destroyed human world, comes across Malcolm, his wife and son who come into the woods to restore an old hydroelectric power house for electricity, in order to save the remaining human population living in a secluded place in a city faraway.
Though Caesar doesn’t like it first, he agrees to allow them into their world, provided the humans do not encroach into their territory. Koba, the second in command of the Apes, does not like this deal. Koba, in vengeance, tactfully destroys the living quarters of the Apes, shoots Caesar and makes them believe that it is the deliberate act of the humans. Thus a war is waged against the humans by the Apes in the city, under the forced leadership of Koba. Later, Malcolm discovers the wounded Caesar in the jungle and treats him medically to bring him back to normalcy. Caesar along with his son and loyal apes, encounter Koba in the battle and kill him in a hand to hand combat. The Apes, delighted to see their beloved leader back, stop the battle. But, the humans already make their arrangements to defend themselves by calling for military help from somewhere else. The movie ends with Caesar recognizing the impending danger and asking Malcom and his family to leave, so that he and his remaining army would fight the humans on his own as it was the Apes who started the war.

Pros: One of the best screenplay and cinematography ever filmed and viewed off late. Sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, with the same taste of pure entertainment. The jungle atmosphere and the Ape costumes were so real that one would have the feeling of being amidst the Apes as long as the show is on. A very sentimental story, that really connected to the audience of the entire world. The entire movie was based on the Apes’ point of view. One would really feel how wrong humans can sometimes be in their decisions. A must watch and definitely a product that deserves to be in your video library. Do not forget to watch this lovely visual treat in a 5.1 surround audio system on big screen.

Cons: The emotions and intelligence of Apes was shown on par with the humans, which in real might not be true. The true inherent animal instinct is visible only in Koba but not in any of the other Ape population, which again cannot be true. A little over kindness displayed in Caesar, which I feel is the result of destruction of his entire race.

My rating is 4.5 out of 5

Poisoned Heart by Jason Blacker
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A rather simple murder mystery, that could be read in just over an hour. The story starts and ends in the Abernathy Castle of England, whose owner Godfrey Apleby is in deep financial crisis after the World Wars. The small get together arranged by the Aplebys inviting the famous lady detective Frances Marmalade and Mr. Mountbatten, the future representative of the British Crown to India, leads to the murder of the housemaid Christine through cyanide poisoning. Frances, with the help of the Police Inspector Pearce cleverly investigates the brief encounter of Christine’s son and ex-husband along with the butler to dig out a secret relationship between Christine and Godfrey, which resulted in Christine blackmailing Godfrey for huge money. Godfrey ultimately confesses that he was the one who killed Christine because of her pressure to shell out more and more money.

Pros: It’s quite a simple story that involved only few characters and moreover the solution was predictable. The story portrayed the English way of living.
Cons: Did not like the way Indian climate and their habit about drinking tea even in hot summers was being looked down upon by the British, forgetting the fact that Indian tea is world famous and soothing even in hot weather. Can be read once but not a library stuff.

My rating is 2 out of 5


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The City Of The Sun by Tommaso Campanells
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This short book is written in the form of a poetical discussion between the Grand Master of Knights Hospitallers and a Sea Captain of Genova of Italy, the birthplace of Christopher Columbus.
It can be taken as a discovery of a Sea Captain (probably Christopher Columbus) of a totally different civilization somewhere in his voyage, which is practicing most of the modern life practices right from birth to death. The minutest detailing of each and every aspect of life regarding the birth, education, marriage, old age, love, warfare, protection, laws and wisdom of this civilization is awesome. Though this city is quite small, there seems to be perfection imbibed in the blood of each and every individual dwelling in the city. The perfection lies in every walk of their life irrespective of sex, colour and age. One could learn how in the olden days people perfected life and why there were no differences amongst them despite there were other cities around which were suffering with internal strives.

Pros: It is great to understand the fact that in this City of the Sun, there were no names to the citizens nor does it practices any caste system. A nice learning about the best practices of life, which could be imbibed into almost all the cultures and civilizations of the world today. The story seems to be inclined towards the cultures of some civilization which was related to India. The exact base on which the principle of Communism was developed upon seems to have been reflecting in the lifestyle of this City of the Sun.

Cons: The name of the City was not disclosed, nor was the place of its existence.

My rating is 3 out of 5


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