So we escaped from the Planet of the Apes, and now all the dogs and cats are dead. Anyone remember that scene in Back to the Future Part 2  where Doc Brown talks about the timeline skewing into a tangent? Yeah, that sprung to mind a lot while watching Conquest of the Planet of the Apes . This is definitely the start of an alternate timeline, and the point where the franchise begins to take a swan dive. Believe me, those two things are not mutually exclusive. But 1991 looks very different in this timeline. I mean, some highly evolved chimpanzees show up in  a spacecraft NASA launched a while back and all of a sudden you've got "a galaxy far, far away" on Earth. Maybe the dogs and cats have distracted us so much over the centuries they've hindered our advancement. Without them we could enjoy a life that includes energy shield doors, fancy interrogation methods, extreme yet uniformed tailoring, and ape servants. Of course we'd also have to live in a Nazi-like police

We've returned to the Planet of the Apes, only to escape it. After the rather disappointing Beneath the Planet of the Apes  things take a considerable step up with Escape from the Planet of the Apes ! Which is odd given that from here on out the franchise takes on a more 'made for TV movie' aesthetic. The fact that by this point the filmmakers were operating on a much lower budget is apparent, and yet, Escape  is the best of the sequels, by far. Not only is it very entertaining, it's also thought-provoking. We are presented with an entirely new scenario. One that allows for a much deeper examination of humanity's flaws, as well as its strengths. Escape  is very much a movie of two halves. After the opening scene the first half can be quite light-hearted. Even silly, at times. Everything from the zoo to the hotel, the shopping trip and the prize fight. Not to mention the Top Secret CIA base that's not disguised in any way and is clearly a government installation.

Return to the Planet of the Apes ... movies. Recently a buddy of mine - his name is Dave, which may or may not become apparent - began talking about rewatching the classic Planet of the Apes  movies. Naturally I was interested, not only because I hadn't seen them all, but also because I can't turn down the opportunity for a movie marathon. Quite the revelation (that last one), I know. Anyway, that's how Dave's DVD Dungeon  came to be, and no movie is safe. Dave and I decided to kick things off with a double feature - not one Planet of the Apes  movie, but two. Two movies from the same place, yet wildly different. Even by today's standards  Planet of the Apes  is groundbreaking - somehow forward thinking and very much of its time, all at once - and like many groundbreaking movies it spawned a litany of sequels. Some better than others. Thankfully however, this doesn't take anything away from the genius of the original. Hilariously it all begins with a decidedly 6

What begins as an experiment involving induced memory quickly turns into a nightmare when the grad students responsible inadvertently  unlock repressed memories for their test subject. After undergoing the procedure, Adam (Artie Shase) - who also happens to be one of the grad students running this study - begins having flashes of a gruesome event. Raising questions to which some would prefer he didn't find the answers. To say that Look Into The Fire  is a psychological/sci-fi/horror wouldn't exactly be accurate. What it does do is drift/jump between each of these genres in the telling of this increasingly bizarre  tale. At first it feels like this movie wants to be Flatliners  - a bunch of grad students messing with a rather dangerous but ambiguous experimental procedure - but then everything shifts and it begins to resemble something else entirely. This continues to happen throughout the movie, making the whole thing feel like a mish-mash of Flatliners , Inception , Misery , S

Have you ever wondered how much control we have over our own lives? That question is the central theme of Rewriting Mallory , as we follow two people struggling to deal with lives marred by tragedy. Drifting between Joshua's attempts to deal with the loss of his sister through writing and Mallory having what could be the worst day of her life, this curious short film offers an interesting perspective on their two lives. One reminiscent of Morpheus' words to Neo in The Matrix  about Dorothy; "tumbling down the rabbit hole". Yes, Director Emerson Adams certainly conjures some colourful imagery with this one! Strangely, for a film that handles themes such as grief and trauma in such a grounded and sensitive way, it also pulls off one hell of a magic trick. Rewriting Mallory  starts off as one thing, essentially lulling you into a false sense of security, before jack-knifing your entire  understanding of what's going on. A move that somehow adds to the intrigue withou

During the pandemic therapist Doctor Peter Marcus (Timothy J. Cox) continues to treat his patients through video calls. But in a world in which many are struggling, who helps the helper? The first thing that strikes you when watching Live Health  is a sense of familiarity. We all lived with lockdown for two years, on and off. And there were times when it felt like it may never end. This sense of confinement and uncertainty is captured perfectly by the directing team of star Timothy J. Cox and his wife Jamie. Then there's the loneliness. The good doctor may be meeting with several patients through the course of his day, but seeing it all happen through a series of video calls - and all from the doc's perspective - really rams home the fact that talking to someone through a screen is no substitute for real human interaction. The second thing that strikes you is how difficult it must be, helping people with their issues when you're struggling with your own. Now you could argue

After his son is killed in the line of duty, a veteran police detective struggles with thoughts of vengeance. Does he trust the system and his fellow colleagues to bring the killer to justice? Or should he take the law into his own hands? Rather than being any kind of police drama, After  is a gripping exploration of grief, and the toxic effect it can have on us. Told through a conversation between father and daughter, there is an expanse forming between them, caused by their individual feelings of loss. A void that - thanks to two magnificent performances, and a subtle shooting style - is right there on the screen for us to see. Their pain, almost palpable. This isn't your typical angry Hollywood cop either. Burned by grief and out for revenge. No, this is about a father contemplating the unthinkable, and the daughter trying to pull him back from the brink. Beth Metcalf and Timothy J. Cox have a very genuine bond on screen. Together they bring Annie and Michael Darcy to life in qu