War for the Planet of the Apes pays relentless homage to cinema's diverse history while also remixing it into something visionary. It has a lot in common with Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, its trilogy's middle act, but still carves out its own place in the world by integrating the militaristic camaraderie of Platoon, the scale of epics like The Ten Commandments, and the search-and-destroy journey arc of Apocalypse Now, complete with graffiti in an underground tunnel spellin

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a contradiction: it expands on its predecessor in ways that feel natural while simultaneously turning the franchise in a radical new direction. The very first thing we see in it is not a person, not even an ape, but a single red dot appearing in the dark as the apocalyptic virus known as the Simian Flu infects its first patient. A tragic and painfully innocent piano piece that's but the summit of Michael Giacchino's beautiful score echoes a

Rise of the Planet of the Apes contains many of the expected motifs of a summer blockbuster, among them genetic experimentation by a corrupt lab, tropes of science fiction mixed with contemporary America, a dash of young romance, and even a climactic setpiece featuring the Golden Gate Bridge, the latter of which it surprisingly avoids demolishing. But though Rise never fully subverts the tropes of an action movie or a drama, it still manages to transcend them with obvious em

Is it strange to say that the most impressive thing about Gareth Edwards's Godzilla is arguably how little screen time it grants the giant lizard himself? I mean this to say that even though it isn't the most complex movie ever made, never before has a monster feature so effectively caused me to anticipate the arrival of its beast. This movie is not at all anxious to get to the money shot of a toppling skyscraper. Rather, it is more interested in lingering on a troubled gaze

The first time I watched Miles Morales take his death-defying leap of faith off that Brooklyn skyscraper, I knew that something in me had just changed. My breath caught in my throat, and the hair on my arms stood on end as chills ran up and down my entire body. The thoughts weren't far behind the feelings, and I found myself breathlessly trying to put them into words that sounded a bit more academic and dignified than this is one of the greatest moments I've ever experienced