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DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (M) Directed by Matt Reeves

I’ll tell anyone who’ll listen that the whole point of being a film reviewer is to be able to appreciate a movie that you don’t actually like very much.

My mantra was sorely tested at a preview screening of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

Dawn picks up the action 10 years after the events of 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The artificial virus that gave Caesar the chimp his Mensa membership has spread through the apes of the world, who have all trebled their IQs and built themselves a civilisation.

But the same virus has mutated, and wiped out nearly the entire human population. We learn all this via a deft and understated opening credit sequence. And that will be the last time this review requires the words “deft”, or “understated”.

From here on in, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is non-stop conflict and histrionics. First as a small band of humans encounter Caesar and his tribe, and then as parallel insurrections arise in the apes’ and the humans’ societies. Some in each group want war, some peace. A series of bombastic scraps breaks out.

The visual effects here are stupendously good, while the onscreen and mo-cap cast all turn in admirable work. Andy Serkis and Jason Clarke are the ape and human leaders, with Gary Oldman not stretching himself at all as the chief baddie of the piece, and Keri Russell in the thankless and underwritten role of Clarke’s wife.

This is a hugely competent film, with story-telling nous to match its huge technical achievement. But Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is also ceaselessly, stupefyingly violent, and though I respect the quality of the film-making, I find it hard to enjoy a film that is at once so ridiculously silly, and yet so completely humourless. By the end, I felt more beaten up than entertained.

T HE stage musical Jersey Boys has been an international smash hit. The show follows the rise and fall and rise again of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, who laid waste to the American pop charts in the 1960s.

I haven’t seen the stage show – musicals bring me out in a rash at the best of times, and the Four Seasons’ anodyne white-boy doo-wop even more so.

But Clint Eastwood, 84 this year, has made a film of Jersey Boys, and so I dutifully stumped up to see what all the fuss was about. And to be fair, I can see the bones of a good show here, but not one that has reached the screen intact.

The story is an over-familiar one. I’ve lost count of the number of films I’ve seen set in 1950s working-class Italian New Jersey/Brooklyn/Queens. Think the first half of Goodfellas, minus the swearing, the murders, the powerhouse acting, the great script, or the excitement.

Into this bland and stagey setting, Eastwood threads a few of the songs the fans have presumably come to hear, but nothing really stands out, and the only showstopping number is Oh, What a Night, performed over the end credits.

Jersey Boys is a frustrating film to watch. Eastwood is enamoured with the plot and characters and seemingly uninterested in the music, yet I still didn’t feel I’d learned anything or met anybody.

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The gorgeous little Irish film Good Vibrations runs a similar story while following the rise of punk rock in 1970s Belfast. At the end of that film, I felt I’d spent time with real people. At the end of Jersey Boys, I was as uninvolved with Valli and his world as I was going in. Completed in 2013, and out on limited release now, Jake is an Auckland-made indie film with high ambitions and a couple of ideas.

Taking its story cues from Groundhog Day via Fight Club (writer/director Doug Dillaman denies the Fight Club influence, but I don’t believe him) Jake is the story of a bloke in his early 30s, apparently going nowhere slowly in his personal and professional life, who wakes up one morning to find he has been “recast”.

A similar looking but more enthusiastic man will be taking over his life, and Jacob is henceforth redundant.

It’s uncertain whether Dillaman intends his script to be a satire of the uncertainties of being an actor, a sci-fi inflected rumination on the nature of self, or just a Twilight Zone-ish don’t think-too-hard-enjoy-the-ride yarn. Whatever Dillaman had in mind, his film is undone by some awful characterisations – the women here have precisely nothing to do but sit around waiting for the men to show up – and disappointingly pedestrian production.

Only in its last scenes does Jake start to exude the energy and wit that should be the meat and bones of a self-funded indie film. Until then, everything has been tentative and far too conservatively shot. The three leads are fine, with Leighton Cardno and Jason Fitch doing good stuff as Jake/Jacob, while Tainui Tukiwaho makes the very best of being “D”, the comic relief/stoner flatmate on the couch.

I’m a proudly one-eyed Wellingtonian, but it seems to me that the films coming out of Maori and Pacifica Auckland lately are great, while the rest of the indie output from that city is stuck in a Sydney/LA wannabe rut that is mostly pretty tiring to watch.

Jake is only one example of that.

– The Dominion Post

The New Zealand International Film Festival arrives in Wellington on Thursday and for the next few weeks I’ll be picking out some recommendations, especially from the less publicised corners of the programme.

One film that isn’t going to suffer for lack of interest is the opening night feature The Dark Horse. James Napier Robertson’s feature, based on the life and character of East Coast chess prodigy Genesis Potini, is an extraordinary achievement. Cliff Curtis, James Rolleston (Boy) and Wayne Hapi turn in a trio of stunning performances.

And a mention for Snowpiercer from Bong Joon-Ho (The Host). This is a stunning sci-fi epic. It may be brought back after the festival, but you’ll never have another chance to see this film on a huge screen, at its intended length. Don’t miss it. And I’m looking forward to Joe, if only because it stars Nicolas Cage, and is being touted as his best work since Leaving Las Vegas.

More obviously populist, We Are The Best! is a funny and touching coming-of-age-in-a-punk-band drama from Swedish darling Lukas Moodysson (Lilya 4-Ever).

Likewise, New Zealand director Florian Habicht’s idiosyncratic take on the band Pulp, as they prepare for their final hometown concert in Sheffield. Pulp: A Film About Life, Death, and Supermarkets is quite excellent.

I’d also look out for Alister Barry and Abi King-Jones’ Hot Air, on the climate change debate in New Zealand. The film-makers have made great use of the television archives, and make a compelling case that although the science was settled by 1990, we’ve allowed politics and corporations to mute our response to a very real crisis. I also like very much Voices of The Land: Nga Reo o te Whenua, on New Zealand musicologist and instrumentalist Richard Nunns. Nunns’ work with near-lost Maori instruments makes for a fascinating and astute film.

Legendary cinematographer Alun Bollinger (Goodbye Pork Pie, Heavenly Creatures, River Queen) was behind the camera. A welcome returnee to the festival is director Paora Joseph, with Te Awa Tupua – Voices from the River, which looks at the occupation of Whanganui’s Moutua Gardens in 1995. This a beautiful film, with an important story to tell.

Staying local, Housebound is a Kiwi horror/comedy that has wowed audiences in the US and Europe already. Even Harvey Weinstein phoned up to request a copy. Also making waves offshore, Max Currie’s debut feature Everything We Loved looks well worth checking out.

Back to the docos – try Particle Fever, on the first years in the life of the Large Hadron Collider. This is real science, made accessible and engaging. I felt smarter for having seen it. And Sepideh: Reaching For The Stars is a free-ranging and unpredictable doco about a young Iranian girl who dreams of being an astronomer. It’s a gem. As ever, there’ll be compilations of short films from New Zealand, the best of international animation, and a swag of films you won’t see coming. Pick up a programme, or check out nziff.co.nz, and take some chances.

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– The Dominion Post

Being called an “infertile fugly wife” by a stranger hurt Loren Heaphy to the core, but her best defence against a volley of vicious online comments was not to engage.

The Nelson woman, who was half of the Tom and Loz team on TV3’s The Block NZ last year, has gone public about the experience of being cyber slandered, in the hope it will start a conversation locally.

Heaphy’s experience of being at the receiving end of some nasty online attacks was the basis of her presentation at Thursday’s Pecha Kucha performance as part of the Winter Music Festival in Nelson.

Pecha Kucha showcases presenters on a variety of subjects in a format where each talks about their chosen 20 slides which are on screen for 20 seconds each.

Heaphy, who works as the international marketing manager for Nelson Tasman Tourism, received huge applause for her call for people to think more about how they responded online, including on local media forums, particularly the more cowardly attacks from people shielded by anonymity.

She said even though the personal attacks on her and other contestants happened during last year’s television show, she felt Pecha Kucha was a good arena in which to raise her own experience with the problem.

“I raised it where I knew there would be parents with children, and people in the community who perhaps didn’t understand a lot of this happens, even in a smaller place like Nelson.”

Heaphy said even though she and other contestants on the show were well supported, particularly by the TV3 production team and the channel’s Facebook moderators, there were a few individuals who “made life hell”.

“We knew that if we put ourselves in the public eye, we had opened ourselves up to it.

“The majority [of comments] were very positive, and we were prepared for it to happen to a degree, but not that level of viciousness.”

Heaphy said it left her deeply upset and “feeling dreadful”. Some of the comments posted on various social media sites included: “What a cow, I feel sorry for her hubby. Does anyone else think that when Tom looks at Loz he looks like he can’t stand his own wife”

Another said: “How could Tom ever marry someone so ugly as Loz. She thinks she’s ‘curvy’ and hot but actually she’s just fat and old. Tom should leave Loz and marry me – then Tom could have babies without him having to worry about an infertile fugly wife.”

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She said common advice is not to look at online comments, but she knew that was difficult. In her case, she felt it was important to know what others might be reading about her.

“I found the best thing was not to engage so as not to add fuel to the fire. I have walked away from this feeling grateful for the support of family, friends, my husband and employer.”

Heaphy said it was sad that while in most situations comments were positive, “we always let those few get to us”.

“Now I can laugh at it but at the time I couldn’t. A lot of teenagers and young people don’t always have the maturity to deal with this sort of thing.

“I was 30 and I could barely deal with it. I just want to raise awareness and start conversations between parents and young people.

“I also ask people to temper what they write and challenge them to think about whether they would say the same thing to someone’s face.”

Legislation now before Parliament would make it a crime to attack others online.

The Harmful Digital Communications Bill, introduced by Justice Minister Judith Collins, would make it an offence to send or post harmful messages – punishable by a $2000 fine or three months’ jail – and create a specialised enforcement agency to deal with cyberbullying complaints.

If you have concerns about online harassment, visit netsafe.org.nz

– The Nelson Mail

A Japanese artist who made figures of Lady Gaga and a kayak modelled on her vagina said from jail she was “outraged” by her arrest and vowed a court fight against obscenity charges.

Megumi Igarashi, 42, says she was challenging a culture of “discrimination” against discussion of the vagina in Japanese society.

Igarashi, who worked under the alias Rokudenashiko, which means “good-for-nothing girl” in Japanese, built a yellow kayak with a top shaped like her vagina after raising about US$10,000 through crowdfunding.

Igarashi sent 3D printer data of her scanned vagina – the digital basis for her kayak project – as a thanks to a number of donors.

She was arrested for distributing indecent material on Saturday and faces up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $25,000.

Igarashi said about 10 police officers had arrived at her house on Saturday and initially, she thought they were only interested in confiscating work she has said is meant as a pop-art exploration of

Kiwi duo Broods’ fan base has just got a whole lot bigger.

The brother-and-sister pair from Nelson last night performed their latest single Mother and Father on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

The single from their upcoming debut album Evergreen shot straight to No 1 on Hype Machine after premiering on Zane Lowe’s BBC Radio 1 two weeks ago and has since accumulated more than 220,000 Soundcloud streams.

Produced by Lorde’s collaborator Joel Little and recorded at Auckland’s Golden Age studio, their debut featuring hits Bridges and Never Gonna Change, as well as nine new recordings, is set for release on 22 August.

Georgia and Caleb Nott musical project Broods emerged in late 2013 with the release of Bridges. The song has received more than 1.2 million streams on Soundcloud, flew up the charts and prompted a whirlwind of interest that resulted in signing international recording contracts in the USA (Capitol Records) and Britain (Polydor).

The last eight months have seen the siblings perform live in the USA, Canada, Britain and Australia with a string of showcases, support slots for the likes of Ellie Goulding, Haim and Chvrches.

In September they will support chart-topper Sam Smith on his North American tour, which will see them play legendary venues such as Hammerstein Ballroom (New York), The Greek Theatre (Los Angeles) and Ryman Auditorium (Nashville).

But before going to the States, Broods will return to New Zealand in late August to play headline shows in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

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– Stuff

Recent Otago University film-making graduate Ashwika Kapur has hit the big time with her documentary From Dud to Stud, about Sirocco the kakapo, who is the only bird in the world with a government position.

Kapur’s film has been selected as one of three finalists in the newcomer section of WildScreen, one of the world’s most prestigious wildlife and environmental film festivals.

The film, made as part of her post-graduate diploma course in natural history film-making and communication at the university’s Centre for Science Communication, follows the intriguing life of New Zealand’s only animal ambassador, Sirocco the kakapo

Kapur said when she came across Sirocco’s story, she immediately knew it was the documentary she had to make.

A just three weeks old, Sirocco caught a respiratory illness and the treatment required meant he had to be hand-raised and kept apart from other kakapo. As a result he became imprinted on humans and thinks he is one.

In 2010, after several years taking part in conservation awareness efforts, he was named “Official Spokesbird for Conservation” by Prime Minister John Key.

“Sirocco is irresistibly endearing, cheekier than a monkey and remarkably bizarre in his mannerisms. He is an extraordinary character and his story is equally extraordinary; a true-blue ‘rag to riches’ tale, as it were. My film sets out to tell that story; the weird and wonderful tale of a kakapo catapulted, by a strange chain of events, to superstardom,” she said.

Kapur is currently working as an associate producer on Natural History NZ’s new India series but plans to take a few days off from that hectic schedule to get to the WildScreen Festival in Bristol in October.

After the festival, Sirocco will be sharing the “global online premiere” of the film with his thousands of fans around the world.

From Dud to Stud is the latest chapter in a long history of success for the Centre of Science Communication at WildScreen. The centre has had its student films accepted as finalists in the newcomer category in four of the past five festivals, and one of those nominations won the award in 2006.

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– The Southland Times

US actor Jason Biggs has apologised for cracking an “insensitive and ill-timed” joke about the latest Malaysia Airlines flight disaster and has deleted all of his offending tweets.

Flight MH17 crashed in the Ukraine after taking off in Amsterdam, bound for the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.

Reports suggest the jet, which was carrying 295 people including at least 23 Australians, was shot down.

When the American Pie star heard the news he tweeted, “Anyone wanna buy my Malaysian Airlines frequent flier miles”

He followed with, “In all seriousness, tho (sic)- How do you mistakenly shoot down a commercial plane! Ugh.

“It’s saddest for the victims and their families, obviously. But Malaysia Airlines is apparently a GREAT airline. Gonna be tough to recover.”

The joke sparked a backlash from some of his 446,000 Twitter followers, who blasted him for making light of the tragedy just months after another of the airline’s planes, Flight MH370, disappeared in March.

Biggs initially refused to apologise for his posts, instead hitting back at his detractors and insisting he never meant any harm.

“Hey all you ‘too soon’ a**holes – it’s a f***ing joke. You don’t have to think it’s funny, or even be on my twitter page at all.
“The idea that I wouldn’t have any empathy 4 the victims or their families because I make a joke is absolutely ridiculous. U know that, right (sic)

“Truly – you losers are literally trying to find s*** to get angry about. Channel your issues elsewhere,” Biggs tweeted.
Biggs then took aim at the media for picking up on the tweet.

“Hey tmz – well done on posting my face next to the wreckage of the plane – you might almost think I actually shot it down!”

But about an hour later the 36-year-old posted an apology and deleted all of his previous tweets on the subject.

“People were offended, and that was not my intent. Sorry to those of you that were,” Biggs wrote.

“This is obviously a horrible tragedy, and everyone – including myself – is sad and angry about it.

“Sending positive thoughts to the victims and their families … my comments might have come off as insensitive and ill-timed. For that, I apologize.”

Biggs made headlines earlier this week after he admitted he had drank some of his wife’s breastmilk.

1). Hey all- ok, so- I am deleting my previous tweets. People were offended, and that was not my intent. Sorry to those of you that were.

— Jason Biggs (@JasonBiggs) July 17, 2014

John Grenell turns 70 this weekend and you’re invited to help him celebrate. Vicki Anderson visits him at his Whitecliffs home.

The Children’s Music Awards celebrate music written for Kiwi kids. For the first time they will be presented live on What Now on Sunday.