Finally. A good “Planet of the Apes” movie. A really good one. One that isn’t stupid and cliched, no less.

The back-story is that a plague carried by apes and monkeys more or less wipes out humanity. A decade or so later, the apes from the last movie have set up camp near San Francisco, where a bunch of the remaining humans are also trying to survive. Their paths finally cross and then things get interesting. The humans don’t trust the apes because they carried the plague. […]

So summer’s here and amongst other things that means the networks are going to play “Trick or Treat” with a bunch of new shows. I haven’t seen them all, but the ones I have seen … ugh … “Deep Hurting”.

TYRANT

On paper, this show has a lot of promise. An Arab/Persian ex-pat and son of the king of a “Middle Eastern” country, returns to his homeland for his nephew’s wedding. At which point the king dies and he is thrown back into the “family business” he ran away from twenty years ago. […]

Before beginning this review, bear in mind this is a Michael Bay film. Which means it will be about 20 minutes too long, have more explosions that D-Day, and will have a script written for 8-year-olds. All that being said, this installment of the “Transformers” is one of the better ones – thanks mainly to the human cast.

“Mahky Mahk” Wahlberg plays a down-on-his-luck inventor (in Texas … with zero accent of any kind … riiiight) who discovers that the truck he’s trying to scrap for parts is actually a Transformer. […]

A little tough to find, this is a pretty interesting film. The premise is that attempts to reverse global warming backfire, and send the planet into a new Ice Age. All that is left of humanity is riding the rails on a Super Train – the “Snowpiercer” – waiting for the planet to thaw out.

Of course, there are some people at the front of the train. And some at the back. And those in back don’t fare too well. Eventually the people in the back of the train grew tired of being treated like animals and rebel in an attempt to take over the train. […]

I should have known from the PG-13 rating this would not be Hollywood’s finest hour. The story line is actually decent, it makes sense even. Of course it didn’t to take two friggin’ hours to tell. And the special effects are well done and don’t wander too far into the absurd. But that’s where the “good” stops and the “bad and the ugly” begin:

• Most of the action scenes happen at night. I assume intentionally. But this means you can’t really see what the hell is happening and it’s done in a way which really doesn’t add any suspense.