I am out of movies to look forward to until December.  That means one can take me by surprise.  This week DAMN DIRTY APES, talking birds, and Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds switch spots.

These are the movies that were released on Friday August 5th , 2011

Rise of the Planet of the Apes – Rated PG-13

James Franco creates a cure for Alzheimer’s and has to test it on a chimp named Caesar.  The chimp then grows more and more intelligent.  He is so smart that the humans want to cage him up.  Bad idea.  This is not a prequel to the Planet Of The Apes movies (That one already happened in the 70’s beginning with 1970’s Escape from the Planet of the Apes) This movie is a rebot of the classic sci fi franchise.  Why not?  Visual effects are far better so hopefully the quality will be there for us to care.

Verdict – James Franco’s inclusion in this movie means that I will run to the theatre to see some damn dirty apes.

The Change-Up – Rated R

Jason Bateman is a married man.  Ryan Reynolds is a swinging bachelor.  One drunken wiz in a fountain with a dash of lightening later and they have switched bodies.  While the plot has been done to death, the one item that I find encouraging with The Change-Up is the rating; R.  This is not a kids swapping movie so hopefully if there is not much depth there will be some good jokes.  The trailer running poop jokes does not give me confidence the jokes will be there.

Verdict – I have no clue if this will be good or not.  The cast looks good, everything else does not.

Box Office Top 5 Movies In The Country
1. Cowboys & Aliens – Rated PG-13

2. The Smurfs – Rated PG
3. Captain America: The First Avenger – Rated PG-13
4. Harry Potter And The Deadly Hallows: Part 2 – Rated PG-13
5. Crazy, Stupid, Love – Rated PG-13

Cowboys & Aliens beat The Smurfs by 800K.  That means a tie but I will give the edge to Cowboys & Aliens.  Most “experts” say Cowboys & Aliens is a failure because it only made $36 Million in its first weekend.  I wouldn’t go that far on box office returns alone.  The few friends that were able to see Cowboys & Aliens this past weekend were not blown away with it.  I refuse to acknowledge The Smurfs with their Smurfs rap.

Still In Theatres
Bad Teacher – Rated R, Cars 2 – Rated G, Friends With Benefits – Rated R, Horrible Bosses – Rated R, Larry Crowne – Rated PG-13, Transformers: Dark Of The Moon – Rated PG-13, Winnie The Pooh – Rated G, Zookeeper – Rated PG

These are the movies released on DVD Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011

Soul Surfer – Rated PG

This is the true story of Bethany Hamilton who lost her arm to a Shark attack but still became a pro surfer.  I am interested to see if this is truly inspiring or just manipulative. 

Rio – Rated G

Birds are taken from Rio and live in Minnesota.  They then get transported back to Rio and have zany adventures.  Your kids will beg you to buy this.  You will and then have to watch this three times a day for two years.  Sorry

Conan The Barbarian – Rated R

You can relive the experience of a young Arnold Schwarzenegger run around without much on trying to kill James Earl Jones.  This is the starting point to Arnold’s rise to the top and now it’s on Blu-Ray

Next Week on DVD Seth Rogan as an Alien plus forced bank robbery and kids piss death off again.  When will Teens learn to stop teasing death?

Credit – IMDB.com, Boxofficemojo.com, & Yahoo!Movies.com