Nerd in the 'Noke

Dark Skies (2013), PG-13, 97 minutes - This is a film that my wife and I had been interested in since we first saw the trailer last year. It was added to our Netflix queue where it sat and sat until the other night when we finally had the opportunity to give it a watch. Dark Skies is a paranormal thriller that follows the Barretts - Lacy (Keri Russell), Daniel (Josh Hamilton) and their sons Jesse (Dakota Goyo) and Sam (Kadan Rockett) - a family battling financial trouble and the stresses that come along with it. To make matters worse, the family begins experiencing strange phenomena, most of which seem to revolve around Sam and his belief in the stories about the Sandman  told to him by Jesse. As unexplained events continue, other members of the family are effected. Lacy's fear of what is happening leads her to the internet, where she finds a local man named Edwin Pollard (J.K. Simmons) who is considered an expert on the paranormal phenomena they have been experiencin...

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 ...