Issue #60: The Perfect Day (Cont.)
For real this time.
Welcome back, everybody!
Just a quick breakdown of the blog for any new readers:
I ramble for a bit and give an update on my life and what I’m thinking about this week
I talk about the movies I watched recently (usually in the last week but I’m still catching up)
I do some rankings, ask some hypothetical questions (ex: what are the chances my dad cries while watching this movie?), and then I give my no frills, no jokes review
We ignore grammar errors here at the blog. Give me a break.
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Sorry it’s been so long.
My last week could not have been more hectic (all by my own doing, but still) so I didn’t get a chance to write the two blogs that you all are owed. Here’s what I’m gonna do: next blog is going to be a recap of my hectic week. Today’s blog is going to start where my last blog left off:
The Perfect Day.
I had a few of you guys reach out to me saying that you liked the cliffhanger I left you all on in the last blog. Most of you probably don’t remember that because it was so long ago, but if you want to know what I’m talking about you can read about it here.
*Author’s Note: when there’s a line underneath a word that means I linked something to that word. If you click on it you will be magically transported to the thing I linked the word to. It’s pretty crazy, I know. Feel free to test it out.*
So…The Perfect Day.
I am fully aware that I am writing about something that happened a month ago now. To that, I say; I don’t care, go fuck yourself. This day was so great that I’m still talking about it and I will continue to for a long time.
Here we go.
Also, before we start, some of you guys have told me you only read the intros to these blogs. In my opinion, this is insane but I also have to be honored. I mean, I have to be honored that you guys care about my life enough to read about it, but if I were you I’d get sick of me so fast you wouldn’t believe it. If I saw this many sentences starting with "I” I’d think that the writer thinks way too highly of himself. The audacity he must have to think that people actually care about what’s going on in his life is truly astonishing.
And with that, let’s get back to what happened in my life a few weeks ago.
The day was Friday, March 14th. At this point, I had been in Chicago for a little over 24 hours. That first 24 hours was pretty awesome (as you should all know by now since you just spent the time to read about it) and I couldn’t really see how it could get better.
Enter: Friday, March 14th.
The day started as most do: I woke up. My bed for the weekend was actually a bed I had slept in before. And by bed, I mean a couch. And by couch, I mean a couch made for 2 people. And by a couch made for 2 people, I mean a couch that is not meant to be used as a bed for 5 nights.
Before we continue let me introduce the characters in this story real fast:
Frigs: My fellow unemployed friend and the person I spent almost every waking second with while in Chicago.
Chaiken: One of my friends who lives in Chicago that I was visiting. He has a job.
Slott: My friend from Chicago who Chaiken now lives with. He also has a job.
Bryce: Chaiken’s friend visiting from Austin. He has a job too.
Mike (Big Mike): Chaiken’s other friend visiting from DC. Also has job.
Will: Yours truly. I won’t be referencing myself in the 3rd person, but I wanted to feel included in these character introductions all the same. I also have a job now but I didn’t at the time.
Ok, now that the stage is set, let me get on with my story.
Would you look at that, I’ve already written hundreds of words and I haven’t even started the day.
So I woke up from the couch that I had slept in before. See, on my original drive across the country, I stopped in Chicago for a night. Slott had already moved in but Chaiken hadn’t yet, so I was Slott’s first guest/roommate for a night. Because he knew I was coming, he did the kind thing and bought literally the first piece of furniture for the apartment: the couch that acted as my bed. If it was good enough for me in August, it was certainly good enough for me in March.
So I woke up on Friday feeling good. Thankfully, I didn’t have a job, so as I watched Slott leave to head into the office (that he hates) while Chaiken, Bryce, and Mike logged on to work remotely, I did what any jobless person would do: make a plan with a jobless friend on what to do for the rest of the day.
I said this in the last blog, but having Frigs there was a lifesaver. Being jobless alone is not fun. Being jobless with a friend is the most fun.
First stop? Apartment building gym to work out; a great place to start the day. Now, I’m typically a workout-in-the-afternoon guy myself, but in order to achieve everything we wanted to do that day a morning workout was necessary. Once our workouts were done (Frigs’ was grittier than mine but I digress), we both took quick showers, laughed at our friends who were doing work, and headed out into Chicago like Bilbo Baggins leaving the Shire:
We got to the door of the apartment building, hadn’t even made it outside yet, when we realized we had forgotten something that would make our day much better…sunglasses. So we ran back upstairs, grabbed sunglasses, and got started on our adventure. Thank god for those sunglasses, because we were gifted with a perfect Chicago spring day. 75 and sunny is pretty perfect any time of the year, but when you get that in the middle of March in Chicago it’s pretty special.
Our only mission for the day? Walk to Wrigley Field, go into the sportsbook at Wrigley, place a bet on college basketball, and walk back home.
That was it. Other than that, we were just going with the flow.
The first good decision made was walking towards Lincoln Park to head to Wrigley. What compelled us to make some of the turns we chose to make I can’t exactly say (Frigs could probably tell you), but we followed our instincts and after walking through Lincoln Park for a while we stumbled upon a zoo.
Did you guys know that there is a completely free zoo in the middle of Lincoln Park? Frigs and I couldn’t believe it, we were beside ourselves. This is not a rinky-dink zoo either, they had everything. At first, we were just gonna go see the gorillas, but fast-forward an hour and a half and we had seen the whole damn zoo. Gorillas, monkeys, lizards, snakes, frogs, lemurs, polar bears, leopards, lions, rhinos, elephants, giraffes, seals, otters. You name it, we saw it.
There’s just something about a good zoo that gets the boys excited. I don’t know what it is, but the two of us were like kids in a candy store. There’s something about seeing these amazing animals that brings out the inner child in you. Or, at least, that’s how it is for me. As we were leaving the zoo we saw a group of guys our age practically skipping into the zoo. That’s what the possibility of seeing a rhino eat hay can do to a man. Animals are awesome and I will never understand people (Chris Ouida) who don’t like them.
By the time we finished the zoo, Frigs and I realized that we hadn’t eaten all day and it was already the early afternoon. Rather than pick a place, we decided that we’d let the place find us. That was kind of the mantra of the entire day. By this point, we had already broken the unwritten rule of not talking during a perfect game. Hell, we were talking about it as soon as we walked out of the apartment and found out that it was 75 and sunny. So we decided to trust the universe and made our way out of the zoo towards Wrigley in search of food.
We must have passed 50+ restaurants before we found it. I spotted the sign from a ways away and had a feeling it was our place. It was almost as if there was a light guiding me to the restaurant, pulling me in. Enter:
Byrd’s Hot Chicken.
I just spent 10 minutes on Google Maps trying to find the name of that place by the way, that’s how good it was. Once we ordered our food (hot chicken sandwiches) we made another great decision to eat outside Wrigley Stadium because why not? I should also note that the milkshakes at Byrd’s Hot Chicken looked unreal, but as you all remember from the last blog, Frigs was/is lenting sweets so we didn’t get one.
Alright, so we got our food but didn’t eat it right away. All that stood between us and the promised land was a 1.3-mile walk to Wrigley. Once the trek was over we sat down outside of the stadium and feasted. The sun was shining, people were out in droves enjoying the weather, and life was good. I will say, the wind was blowing pretty damn hard, but if that’s the worst thing to happen in a day I’ll take it. Chaiken facetimed us while we ate and told us that as soon as we walked back into the apartment he’d clock out of work. We assured him we’d be back soon (we weren’t back for another 2 hours).
Since we had finally reached our destination it was time to do the one thing we had actually planned on doing that day:
Go to a sportsbook and bet on basketball.
We walked into the DraftKings sportsbook at Wrigley like we owned the place. Next up was finding a bet to place. I let Frigs take point because he’s a sicko and watches college basketball like I watch movies. What did he land on?
Jacksonville State race to 45.
Cause of course he did.
Jax State’s game with Middle Tennessee State was at halftime tied at 35 so, naturally, we took them to get to 45 points before MTSU would. Was there any science that went into this pick? Nope, just vibes. There was a lot of pressure on this pick. Obviously we had money wagered on it that we didn’t want to lose. But more importantly, the entire perfect day hinged on this one decision. If it lost then the perfect day was over. If it hit then we knew we couldn’t do wrong.
We took our seats, ticket in hand, and watched as Jacksonville State went on a 10-2 run to start the half. MTSU went 0-5 to start the half and had 3 turnovers. At this point it was ironclad. No matter what we did or what decision we made we just couldn’t miss. The perfect day was intact and we were only halfway through it. 10 minutes after we had placed the bet we walked out of the sportsbook 10s of dollars richer. Now it was time to head back to the apartment.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention: at this point, we had started counting every single dog we saw on our walk. We started once we left the zoo and continued to do so for the rest of the day. I only mention this because when I give you our final tally at the end of our walk you’ll know what I’m talking about and I won’t sound like a crazy person.
Ok, so we were now walking back to the apartment. We decided to take the path by the lake because, again, why not? Another great decision. I couldn’t believe how many people we saw while we walked by the water. It looked like how Los Angeles looks every day: no one working, just people enjoying the warm weather and sunshine. Oh, also, we saw Lightning Mcqueen. Like I said: perfect day.
Eventually, after hours of walking around Chicago and 10s of thousands of steps, we made it back to the apartment. Thankfully, by the time Frigs and I got back, all of the guys had finally finished work. The next thing on the agenda was to pick up some beer for the weekend.
The 6 of us made the walk to Slott and Chaiken’s corner store, made our beer selections, and started towards the register when disaster struck. Mike’s 6 pack of Peronis broke open, sending bottles crashing to the floor. Disaster.
But this is the perfect day we’re talking about.
None of the bottles broke.
The attendant who saw the whole thing walked over to us, checked that the bottles weren’t broken (except one whose seal had been), and told us to take the remaining 5 bottles for free. He took the one with the broken seal for himself and started drinking it as we made our way to the register to check out. At this point, Frigs and I had mentioned our perfect day to the other guys a few times (probably more) but now they believed it themselves.
Free beer will always make people believe in a perfect day.
After grabbing beer, we went back to the apartment, hung out for a bit, and then made our way to a bar to pick up bracelets for the bar crawl we’d signed up for the next day. Did we use those bracelets a single time on Saturday? No, and it was a total waste of $25, but we didn’t know that at this point. Picking up bracelets was as close as we got to fucking up the perfect day. The line was crazy long and we thought we’d be standing in it for hours, but it pretty much started moving right as we got there. A half-hour later we had our bracelets and we were waiting for a table at Lou Malnatti’s for deep-dish pizza.
After pizza and beer (an unbeatable combo) and a walk back to the apartment, it was a relatively early night because of the marathon we had coming up the next day. It was a perfect day and if I never have a perfect day again at least I’ll always have this one.
Sometimes it pays to not have a job.
Oh, I almost forgot to say it again. Frigs and I saw 197 dogs while we were out in Chicago. Great day.
The rest of the weekend was also pretty great. Saturday was pure chaos. St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago is a city-wide tailgate, the Chicago River was very green, and a lot of green beer was drank by all. Mix in Taco Bell for lunch/dinner, a solo walk home through Chicago, and one wipeout while running later, and you’ve got a pretty crazy day for yours truly.
Saturday was 75 and sunny. Sunday was 27 and snowy. You can’t make this shit up. Thankfully the weather matched the energy of the group, which was at a nadir. Sunday Scaries were hitting like a motherfucker so all we did that day was grab cheeseburgers for lunch and watch a movie.
Monday was a recovery day for Frigs and me while the other guys had work as well as a goodbye day since I was leaving on Tuesday early. It’s safe to say that I would like to go back to Chicago for St. Patrick’s Day again.
I miss that couch that is not meant to be slept on for 5 nights.
Alright, let’s get to the blog.
I made a new website. It’s basically the same as the old Vault, but it’s been given a makeover and the movies and documentaries I watched in 2024 are now available as well. If you check it out please give me suggestions on how I can make it better. And let me know if there are any issues I need to fix.
Check it out here!
Alright, on to the blog.
Movies count for the year: 58
Doc count for the year: 9
Total movie count on the blog: 265
Movies at Home
Inching ever closer to having no life.
Today I’ve got 3 absolute bangers I watched in my home theater (the TV in my room) for you guys. Before you all freak out; they all came out before 1980.
“Hark! Be not afraid,” he said to his younger readers, for he could see them moving their cursors towards the X button in the corner of their screen. “I will guide you through these scary, “old” movies.”
You should really watch these because they’re pretty brilliant.
The Wild Bunch (1969)
AKA: I don’t know how anyone survived in the Wild West.
I have a theory about the Wild West.
I've written about Westerns before (Tombstone, 3:10 to Yuma, etc.) and every time I do I simply have to make a comment on the lifestyles of the people who lived back then. It is remarkable that people were able to survive in the Wild West. Truly insane. The only logical explanation that I can come up with is that everyone was wasted at all hours of the day which killed all the germs and kept them unaware of how shit their living situation was.
Exhibit A is this movie.
I could not believe the amount of grain alcohol that is drunk in this movie. On numerous occasions, characters woke up in the morning, popped open a bottle of moonshine, and chugged it as a way to start their day. The only plausible explanation for this behavior is that they knew, after years of experience, that being almost black-out drunk was the only way to survive as an outlaw or cowboy in the Wild West. It's just a theory that I'm working on. I'm acquiring more evidence as I watch more Westerns. I'll report back with my findings.
What can I say about this movie other than my ironclad theory on drinking in the Wild West? This movie is a masterpiece and influenced so many movies that have come since it, especially those made by Quentin Tarantino. He's talked ad nauseam about The Wild Bunch over the years and how it is one of his favorite films. All I can really do is piggyback on everyone else's thoughts about this movie. If you are a film historian it is an absolute must-watch, if you're a fan of westerns it's an absolute must-watch, and if you enjoy movies at all it's an absolute must-watch. It came out in 1969, so it's not as frenetic as the action movies you see nowadays that have to account for attention spans the length of a goldfish yet it so clearly influenced so much of what came after it and it holds up so damn well, even 55+ years later.
You should all watch this movie.
Do They Say the Title of the Movie In the Movie: I’m gonna be honest; I don’t remember. I don’t think they do though. Missed opportunity.
Chance My Dad Cries While Watching This: 27%
No, But Really: If there is a “dudes rock” movie Hall of Fame, this is one of the first ballot hall of famers. This entire movie is guys doing cowboy and outlaw stuff in the Wild West. But, on top of all of that, this film is also a great movie about getting what it’s like to get older and have time/society pass you by. It’s a pretty damn perfect film and I couldn’t recommend it more. I know not everyone likes Westerns, but this is one of the best ones you could pick.
Sorcerer (1977)
AKA: The most stressful car ride of your life.
Do you know what I love doing? I love going into a movie with absolutely no idea what it's about. This is a rare occurrence for someone like myself, who reads incessantly about movies, listens to movie podcasts, and sees movie spoilers on a daily basis. Thankfully, I've learned to notice the signs of an upcoming spoiler after years of practice. It's why I try to avoid spoilers here at the blog. I know, we all know, what it's like to get something spoiled, so I do my best to skirt around them because I think everyone should get a chance to see a movie for the first time with as little spoiled for them as possible.
Sorcerer was one of those movies for me.
I had never heard of this movie until it was drafted in a 1977 Movie Draft on The Big Picture Podcast. The Big Picture has entered my Big Three of Podcasts I listen to every episode of (Pardon My Take and The Rewatchables are the other two) and they do movie drafts a few times a year for different years. This past summer they did 1977, and I can tell you exactly what I was doing when I listened to it. I was taking a crazy long walk through my neighborhood, probably after a full day of painting a deck, fixing a computer, or mulching/weeding a garden. I remember what I was doing because I saw a really cute dog on that walk and I took a picture with him. Here is said picture:
Anyway, I first learned of Sorcerer on this walk, through this podcast, and that's all it took to be added to my watchlist. I skipped through their discussion of the movie because based on the reaction to it being drafted alone, I knew I'd like it.
I was right.
It's a crime that this movie isn't more popular than it is. I don't know what the exact reason for this is, but I have a hunch that it may be because it was released one month after a tiny movie called Star Wars came out. For those of you who haven't heard of this small indie movie, it made $776 million in 1977 and overshadowed a lot of movies that came out that year. That may not be the only factor for Sorcerer's failure at the box office ($9 million on a $22 million budget) and overall standing in the public consciousness, but it certainly didn't help.
2 quick things before we move on:
1. Roy Scheider should have been a bigger movie star than he was. Don't get me wrong, he worked a lot, all the way up to his death, but he should have been an A-lister. In the 70s alone he was in The French Connection, Jaws, Marathon Man, and Sorcerer. You know what must have been? He came back to Jaws 2 and nothing was the same after that. At least he got that bag for coming back ($500,000 for 3 months of work. That's a cool $2.5 million in 2025.)
2. William Friedkin is not as much of a household name as his contemporaries (Spielberg, Scorsese, Lucas, De Palma, Coppola, etc.) but goddamn did he have an unreal three-movie run in the 1970s: The French Connection, The Exorcist, Sorcerer. I'm gonna be honest, I haven't seen any of his movies that came after Sorcerer, and he never reached the heights he reached in the 70s again, but if a director had even one movie as good as the three he had in a row they'd die happy.
Still haven't seen The Exorcist though. It's on the watchlist (I'm too scared to watch it).
Do They Say the Title of the Movie In the Movie: I don’t think they explicitly say it, but if you pay attention you’ll see why it’s called Sorcerer.
Chance My Dad Cries While Watching This: 14%
No, But Really: It’s an absolute shame that this movie wasn’t a big hit when it came out and that more people haven’t seen/heard of it before. This movie is fucking awesome and I couldn’t recommend it more. I’d say it’s definitely made more for a male audience, but I think every audience can appreciate it. It’s a classic “impossible mission” movie that is suspenseful as hell and will have you tense the entire time. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, and it’s a great movie about slowly going insane. Similar vibes to Apocalypse Now and Jaws, but in very different ways.
Duel (1971)
AKA: Never piss off a 16-wheeler.
I can't even begin to tell you how many times my Mom recommended this movie to me. For as long as this blog has been around, every time I asked for recommendations it has been her #1 choice. Mom, I respect the grind and it was a good recommendation on your part.
On a different note, this movie has absolutely no business being as good as it is.
For those of you who do not know; this is Steven Spielberg's first* movie. I added that asterisk there because it's a slight point of contention. Allow me to explain. While this is Steven Spielberg's first feature-length film, it did not begin that way. Duel was originally a TV movie that aired on ABC's "ABC Movie of the Week" back in 1971. It was shot in 13 days(!) and edited in 10. Those numbers may mean nothing to all of you, but they are outrageously low. Like, I cannot even comprehend how they managed to make this film happen in that short of a time. AND IT WAS 3 DAYS OVER SCHEDULE. They were supposed to finish filming it in 10 days. Ridiculous.
So this movie aired on ABC in 1971 and was the 18th highest-rated TV movie of that year. I don't know what was in the water in 1971, but the fact that this was only the 18th highest-rated TV movie of that year either means that the 17 above it were masterpieces beyond belief, or that there was nothing else for people to do at night except for watch television and people were watching what was on one of the 3 other channels that night (I'm gonna go with the latter).
Well, it was popular enough to warrant a theatrical release of the film, except it was only 74 minutes long. In order to make it a crisp 90 minutes, Universal gave Spielberg 2 days to shoot more footage to craft together a legit feature-length film. Which brings us to the point of contention mentioned earlier. While Duel is technically Spielberg's first theatrically released feature film, The Sugarland Express is his first film that was conceived as a theatrically released film and not a television film. My opinion? Duel totally counts. The fact that he was able to make a film as entertaining as this with the budget and time restraints he was under is a feat in and of itself. It being good is something that only a prodigy like Steven Spielberg could have made happen.
Spielberg was 24 years old when he made Duel. For a 23-year-old like myself, this is a very concerning stat. I've been watching people who are younger than me play sports better than I ever will for a few years now. At first, it sucks, but after a while, you get used to it. Reaching that same point in the field of film production is almost more concerning to me. Believe me, I am fully aware that I am not Steven Spielberg and the industry has changed dramatically since he first started, but Spielberg directing his first film when he was 24 years old while I write a pop culture blog at 23 is...something.
It's all about perspective. He’s the goat of directing and I’m looking for the next Spielberg to hitch my wagon to so I can produce their movie.
Do They Say the Title of the Movie In the Movie: Nope. I think there’s like less than 100 words spoken in this movie.
Chance My Dad Cries While Watching This: 2%
No, But Really: This movie has no business being as great as it is. This is Steven Spielberg’s first movie, and that’s clear, but goddamn is this a fun ride and it’s way better than it should be because it’s got Spielberg at the helm. The amount of stress this movie gives you is crazy, considering most of it contains no dialogue and is just a car and a truck racing down the highway. For any Spielberg-completists, this is obviously a must-watch, but this is also a fun, 90-minute thrill ride that I think anyone can enjoy.
Running It Back
Meant to include this one in last week’s blog but I ran out of time. It’s one of my all-time favorites.
Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
AKA: George Clooney robs a casino with 10 of his friends.
Very rarely have I written about one of my all-time favorite movies on the blog. I actually have a blog planned that is strictly my all-time favorites (I watched them in 2024 and have been waiting to write about them) but that's a blog for a later date. Today we're talking about Danny Ocean and his crew.
I can't even tell you how many times I've seen this movie. It's certainly in the double digits, and at this point, I can quote almost the entire movie. This latest watch was with some friends during my senior year. They hadn't seen it before and decided to watch it. I'm typically more inclined to watch a new movie rather than rewatch one, but if someone is watching Ocean's 11 you can bet your ass I'm watching it with them. You know why?
Because this might be the most fun/entertaining movie of the 21st century.
That's right, I said it. I'm sure I could come up with my fair share of rebuttals, but when I posed that question to myself, this was the first movie that came to mind. What is more fun and entertaining than a bank heist? I can think of very few things that are more fun. I'll ask another question: "Is pulling off a heist with your friends the most fun a person can have?" I don't have any solid evidence to back up my answer of "hell yes it is" but I've seen this movie enough to convince myself that I'm right.
You know what else this movie is? It's another Soderbergh. After our discussion in my last blog about the workhorse that is Steven Soderbergh, I need to point out that this was his first movie after his all-time great 2000. Directing 2 Best Picture nominees in the same year (Erin Brockovich, Traffic) and winning a couple Oscars to making Ocean's 11 has to be on the list of best back-to-back years in film history, at least in the 21st century.
But this is not the first Ocean's 11, no sir. That honor belongs to the 1960 film of the same name starring the Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, and friends). I think I watched that one first, and by god does it pale in comparison to the Clooney version. My advice would be to skip the 1960 version and jump straight to the 2001 version. It's better in literally every single way.
I don't know what else to say. George Clooney is awesome in this, Brad Pitt is awesome in this (and eats food the entire time, of course), Julia Roberts is awesome in this, Matt Damon is awesome in this, and the other 8 guys in the crew are awesome in this. The more I think about it I can't seem to come up with a weak link to this film. Maybe I'm looking at it with rose-tinted glasses, but this is one of my favorite movies so I'm giving myself a pass.
Do They Say the Title of the Movie In the Movie: I think I could quote this entire script back to you so I know for a fact they do not.
Chance My Dad Cries While Watching This: 5%
No, But Really: This is one of my favorite movies of all time. It’s probably a slight tier below my top favorites, but I’ve seen this movie roughly 15 times (at least) and it gets better with every viewing. It’s certainly on the Mount Rushmore of heist movies, and there may not be a movie with a better cast/ensemble. Everyone should watch this movie and I truly don’t see how someone could dislike it.
Franchise Mode
Going Monkey Mode (1.0)
Last week I included a poll for people to vote on which franchise you all wanted next. Much to my surprise, people actually voted and we ended with a victor.
Today we’re starting the Planet of the Apes reboot franchise. These movies are all pretty great and they’ve got close to a perfect batting average when it comes to releasing entertaining (and good) movies. Let’s jump right in.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
AKA: Rise Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes has always been a franchise that has captivated my imagination despite never having seen a single film in the almost 60-year-old series. I'd obviously seen the iconic final shot of the original Planet of the Apes (1968) (I won't spoil it here in case you've been living under a rock for your entire life) and I'd seen bits and pieces of Rise (the movie we're talking about today), but nothing more than that. Specifically, I'd seen the final scene of this movie as well as the credits, which, spoiler alert, shows how human civilization collapses and how ape civilization is allowed to thrive. I can't be sure, but I'm almost positive this movie is why I enjoyed playing Plague Inc. back in the day. I can't be the only one who played this game when I was younger. I'm gonna be honest, I don't remember my strategy, I just remember that it was hard as shit to get those Nordic countries completely infected because it was so cold up there.
Great game. A bit morbid? Sure, but if you ever want to learn how to create a disease that infects the entire world it's a good place to start.
There is a reason this franchise has lasted as long as it has, and it has to do with my very own feelings towards it (I know that sounded arrogant but let me finish). Like I said, I'd never seen a full movie in the Planet of the Apes franchise before last year. I made it a point to watch the three in the rebooted series before Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes came out in May of 2024. Despite this, I was culturally aware of the series and thought it was such a cool concept. People keep coming back to this franchise, they're been coming back for 57 years at this point, because the idea is foreign and unrealistic, but at the same not unrealistic enough for it to be impossible. Implausible? Sure, but we've all seen a global pandemic shut down the world before. We're lucky Covid didn't make the apes smarter and kill all of us. It's also the fact that chimps are our closest relative in the animal kingdom; almost human but not quite fully. They are our less evolved cousins and the concept of them reaching the same level of intelligence and capabilities as us is utterly fascinating.
I don't know, maybe that's just me. What I do know, and what I know a lot of you will agree on, is that these movies are awesome and one of the best franchises running today. I don’t even know if I had a point in all of that rambling, but here we are.
2 other things I remembered as I reread and edit this blog:
I’ve also seen the last scene of Planet of the Apes (2001) with Mark Wahlberg. I don’t know what it is with me and seeing the final scene of movies in the Planet of the Apes franchise but I guess that was my thing for a while. The ending of the 2001 movie totally fucked me up when I was younger too. It’s not a good movie at all, but the ending was insane. I won’t spoil anything but it has to do with Abraham Lincoln becoming a monkey. No joke.
Before I watched any Planet of the Apes movies I watched a documentary about the pioneering makeup artists on the first Planet of the Apes movie from 1968. It’s a pretty fascinating documentary on Amazon Prime called Making Apes. Go check it out!
Do They Say the Title of the Movie In the Movie: Uh, no. Can you imagine them trying to fit this convoluted-ass sentence in the script somewhere?
Chance My Dad Cries While Watching This: 72%
No, But Really: There’s just something about the concept for these movies that captivates and interests the hell out of me. While I think this is the 4th best of the new franchise, the bar is so high that this is still a very solid movie and would be considered the best of a bunch of other franchises, quality-wise. This is a perfect introduction to the Caesar character and truly sets everything that will come later into motion. This franchise is awesome and all of these movies are entertaining as hell. Also, the effects are still top-notch almost 15 years later.
-Ovechkin is the best goal-scorer of all time
—The Orioles need pitching help
—-I’m really happy for Rory McIlroy
——I love movies
———Having a job means I have less time
