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War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)
Drags Its Knuckles At Points
I've been enthralled by PoA since the first series of films watched as a boy. Additionally, I've collected comics books related to the story, a small library of paperback novels, British annuals and other assorted literature. To say I was delighted when I heard of the reboot is an understatement (ignoring the Tim Burton travesty). Thus far, I've thoroughly warmed to the latest trilogy, and watched War last night.
Serkis performance is spectacular, convincing and profound. Harrelson definitely deserves a nod too. The storyline is far from action- packed, and indulges in too much exposition, becoming bogged down in the middle of the picture. The inclusion of a cartoon-like chimp character is grating, and incongruous. The continued reliance on sign language by many apes, requires subtitles, which become tedious if you didn't expect a foreign-language film - hopefully subsequent scripts will have all the apes capable of speech.
When we look back on this period of PoA films, this one will likely be viewed as one of the lesser works (much as Beneath the Planet of The Apes is in the original collected works). It's good, not great, but leaves this fan wanting more.
What the Health (2017)
Vegaganda
We've arrived at a stage where a zealot, a cellphone camera and lunatic fringe "experts" can meet in a fluster cluck and the resultant baby is called a documentary. Other reviewers have highlighted the abundant absurdities and downright dangerously wrong nutritional advice spouted by people who alarmingly hold medical degrees so I won't rehash them, although I do wonder what those doctors we hear from make of the exceptionally healthy Maasai with their blood and milk based diet or the Sami people who consume vast amounts of animal fat and protein yet are some of the fittest hardiest people on the planet?
The reason vegans become B12 deficient very easily unless they take artificial supplements is because the human body evolved to eat meat. I get that vegans don't want animals eaten for food, so they'll be pleased to hear that I haven't eaten meat or poultry in 40 years, however that does not mean I give vegan propaganda a pass.
There is only one group of mammals evolved to eat grain as a primary food source: rodents. We evolved to eat a high fat, high protein (meat-based) moderate carbohydrate diet (mostly root based, with fruit when in season), complimented with some seeds (mostly nuts). There is an abundance of research indicating those who follow paleo-type diets based upon those foods are reaping the health and longevity benefits. There are sound ethical and ecological reasons to argue for less meat eating and for improved conditions for farms animals, so it is unfortunate that that cause becomes lost in the din and noise of silly vegaganda documentaries such as this.
Hate Thy Neighbour (2016)
Jamali, Meet The Barbary Pirates
Jamali, is a witty guy, and like most decent people, he abhors racism. Unfortunately, his encounter with an EDL member who advises him that black people took white slaves (Ep. Britain's Evryday Extremism), is met with derision, and becomes the butt of a joke in his stand-up. Correctly there has been considerable condemnation of the African slave trade, which took place between the 16th and the 19th centuries. However, another equally evil trade in human beings was occurring around the same time in Africa. It is estimated that up to 1.25 million Europeans were enslaved by Barbary Pirates - black North African Muslim raiders and slave traders. There is an abundance of credible, scholarly information available online recounting this activity.
Jamali's heart is in the right place, and the show is worth a watch, however his lazy conflation of anti-Islamists and racists is disappointing though not unsurprising.
Bosch (2014)
Bosch So Black
Bosch is standard fare cop/detective stuff of a type which Quinn Martin was churning out in the 70s without the swearing. Welliver does a bang-up job of bringing the brooding Harry Bosch to life, despite the frivolous distractions of his poker-playing ex-wife, cookie-cutter teenage daughter and predictably far younger love interest.
The casting of an extraordinary number of black actors in a story about the LAPD should raise eyebrows. Predictably, it hasn't. The 'Oscars So White' meme obviously hit a chord with the show runners and run with it they did depicting a Los Angeles police department and indeed much of Los Angeles as essentially split between black and white folks. The very few Latino main characters on the show are not even of Mexican descent.
The absurdity of the casting is no better exemplified than listing the following real-world stats: LAPD is currently 40 percent Latino; 38 percent white; 12 percent African-American; 6.7 percent Asian. The civilian population: Hispanic or Latino 47.5%; Non-Hispanic Whites 29.4%; Asian: 10.7% and Black or African American: 9.8%. This show needs some truth in demographics - swinging Hollywood's racial pendulum to the opposite extreme does a disservice to truth and exacerbates the under-representation of minorities in Hollywood. It also ends up looking completely patronising of black people.