Nerd in the 'Noke

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), PG-13, 130 minutes -  As I began writing this review, I was surprised when I realized that I had never reviewed 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes. So here it is in short: I really enjoyed Rise. I felt as though it worked well as either a prequel to the original franchise or as a franchise reboot (which is the route actually being taken by these newer films). Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a direct follow up, beginning with a prologue filling in the events immediately following the end credit sequence of Rise when the infected neighbor had a nose bleed at the airport, beginning the global spread of the 'simian flu' virus caused by ALZ-113.  We then jump ahead about ten years to a time when the majority of humanity has died as a result of the flu. The ape population led by Caesar (Andy Serkis) out of San Francisco has flourished in the wild. They've begun building their own civilization and their intelligence continues ...

Compiling this list each year is more difficult than one would think.  Obviously it can only be made of films that are already known to be coming out by the general public.  I'd like to think that the films on my list below will be pretty good, but who knows?  There may be much better films released in 2014.  In any event, these are the ones that have me the most excited here at the beginning of the year: Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order): The Amazing Spider-Man 2 , Dumb and Dumber To , Godzilla , Gone Girl , How to Train Your Dragon 2 , Mr. Peabody & Sherman , Sin City: A Dame to Kill For , Transformers: Age of Extinction . 10) Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (July 18)  - Some of my earliest movie memories from my childhood are of watching the old Planet of the Apes films with my dad.  2011's 'reboot' (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) was a prequel to the previously made films, and set in the same continuity.  This follow up looks to ...