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Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes


Shanester

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Just across the street from my offices, several blocks are closed off and I am told they will remain closed to traffic until late July. It is filming for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Most of the buildings inside the closed off area are getting made up differently for filming. If you can make out the gothic looking area in the center, that was built specifically for filming. It was an empty lot two weeks ago. Lots of action down there but it is hard to see because the perimeter is closed off with trucks. Next week we are supposed to start hearing gunshots and crashes.

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Just thought I'd share.

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Glad to see NO getting some revenue from this. Having said that, it's hard to imagine many other major cities being willing to close off several streets for months for a movie. I know our state has instituted some serious tax breaks for film companies to come and shoot here, and this is more evidence of the extent to which we're willing to bend over backwards.

Putting all that aside, cool that you'll be able to witness some of that movie magic going down Shane.

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K80, you wouldn't believe how far the city is going for this film. Closing off a huge chunk of downtown and not for just a few days, but for months. I question the legality of it all myself. Check it out here : http://www.filmneworleans.org/apes/

All griping aside, I am a big POTA fan, as well. Not so much of the Burton film, but I loved Rise of POTA and I have all the other films in the POTA box set. Even the TV show and animated POTA is cool in my book. If I see any of those damned dirty apes, I'll try to take photos. The cops try to keep folks from taking photos. I tried to stay out of the line of site of the police officer in the unmarked (but obvious) police car in my shot.

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I guess New Orleans needs attention and revenue after all the devastation from hurricanes over the last decade. Here's an article referring to the tax breaks:

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/viewart/20130429/ENT21/130429023/Louisiana-spent-800M-film-tax-credits-over-5-years

Edited by karamazov80
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  • 4 weeks later...

There has been a lot of squealing tires around my office today and I was starting to think some crazy stuff was going down. You just never know in the Big Easy. Then a co-worker reminded me of our proximity to the DOTPA movie set. They are doing some stunts with some really cool post-apocalyptic looking SUVs. I am very interested in this movie.

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  • 10 months later...

I agree that Rise is a good movie. I was very impressed with the writing, in particular. As a long time fan of the property, I feel like they did a great job of explaining what went wrong in the early days and how the apes evolved so rapidly. Its just my opinion, but I loved it. Even my wife who shakes her head at my love of POTA, really enjoyed Rise.

I probably would have picked up the disk by now, but I am kind of waiting for the inevitable box set down the road.

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Rise is a great movie, definitely way better than I expected. I especially love that Rise at least more or less left the continuity of the original intact, going so far as to feature the space launch. Very cool. (Although I don't know if it is strictly speaking a reboot or just a prequel or what.) I've got to admit too, though, that although I have seen all of the POTA movies, I think they were mostly crappy. POTA was great. I recall Escape being pretty good, but Beneath POTA and those other later ones just didn't do it for me. Anyway, Dawn looks promising, and after Rise, my expectations are high.

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I think POTA was brilliantly done for its time. I was a kid when I watched them originally, so I was easily blown away, but they still hold up pretty good considering their age. Some of the stories got a little odd, but the effects were (IMO) amazing for their time. The new ones are supposed to play right into the old ones and (again IMO) I feel like they are doing a good job with it.

That Burton atrocity was something I hope we can all forget happened...

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As a huge fan of Rick Baker's previous work, I was thrilled to see him get a chance to work on Planet of the Apes. As it turns out, it's the only way it would have happened given the move away from practical effects and toward performance capture. Burton's film was at best a showcase of Baker's skills and experience. Terrible, terrible movie but a wonderful opportunity for Rick.

If you get a chance, watch the documentary about the making of the original POTA franchise. Loads of insight there. The biggest revelation for me was how the studio kept slashing the budget picture after picture and still wound up making more money.

I really enjoyed the last movie and am looking forward to its sequel.

Now how about some Minimates?

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