Steve Zahn

The surprisingly thoughtful prequel trilogy comes to a powerful conclusion with this robust, dramatic thriller, which avoids most of the annoying cliches of action blockbusters to offer something much deeper. As before, the film is anchored by a startlingly realistic motion-capture performance from Andy Serkis that fills the screen with complex emotions.

As the lab-created virus continues to sweep across the world, killing humans and giving sentient abilities to apes, a tenacious Colonel (Woody Harrelson) is making one last stand for mankind. While raiding a nearby ape village, he kills ape leader Ceasar's (Serkis) family, which finally convinces Caesar that peace with humans won't be possible. With revenge in mind, Caesar takes his faithful orangutan advisor Maurice (Karin Konoval) on a mission to track down the Colonel while arranging for the colony to make its escape. Along the way, Caesar reluctantly rescues an abandoned little girl (Amiah Miller) and a chatty orphaned ape (Steve Zahn). Meanwhile, the Colonel has holed up in a military base awaiting reinforcements from the north to wipe out the apes for good.

Unlike most action movies, this film plays out patiently, with long scenes that reveal internal motivations, deepening the characters and situations profoundly. Director Matt Reeves never rushes through a set-piece, allowing them to evolve organically, even if there are a couple of oddly convenient plot points later on. The point is that the film centres on the internalised thoughts and feelings of the characters, rather than their physicality in the big action moments. Which of course draws us into the complexities of the story and forces us to consider the bigger ideas swirling around. This also means that scenes never play out in predictable ways, constantly surprising the audience with refreshing twists that undermine and redefine the genre.

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An offbeat comedy-drama with a timely kick, this charming family road trip takes on some very deep topics without flinching. It's essentially an impassioned plea to snap out of the way people in the West have been sleepwalking into consumerism and complacency. Viewers who believe that things are just fine will probably be troubled (or angered) by this movie, but those willing to think and have their beliefs challenged will find it entertaining and invigorating.

It opens in the American northwest, where Ben (Viggo Mortensen) is raising his six kids in the middle of a forest, teaching them to use their minds and bodies to think and survive. His wife is ill in hospital, and when she dies the kids insist on attending her funeral, even though her parents (Frank Langella and Ann Dowd) ask Ben not to come. So they pile into the family bus and head across country, stopping to visit Ben's sister and brother-in-law (Kathryn Hahn and Steve Zahn). This encounter and others along the road demonstrate just how far advanced Ben's children are, although they're not terribly well equipped to interact with general society. Eldest son Bodevan (George MacKay) has been accepted into all of the top universities, but hasn't a clue how to talk to a girl. And middle son Rellian (Nicholas Hamilton) is beginning to question the Bohemian lifestyle.

This is a fascinating exploration of a group of children whose upbringing has given them razor-sharp minds, leading them to political beliefs that are far outside the mainstream. The unsubtle connection is that the majority of the public are manipulated by corporate interests that put money ahead of everything else. Actor-turned-filmmaker Matt Ross smartly explores this theme from every angle, which makes the film easy to engage with. And it helps that the driving force of the plot is the emotional desire to say goodbye to a wife and mother.

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In telling this remarkable true story, director Jean-Marc Vallee (The Young Victoria) and his gifted cast keep the characters and events so grounded that we can't help but get caught up in their story. The film never asks for our sympathy, but it earns it over and over again as it explores a disgraceful period in American history when businesses and the government essentially condemned millions to death by withholding proper treatment for HIV and Aids.

It begins in 1985, when homophobic womaniser Ron Woodroof (McConaughey) is told that he has just a month to live. Refusing to believe that he has the same disease that has just killed Rock Hudson, he ignores his doctors (Garner and O'Hare) to find his own supply of AZT, which makes him even more ill. So he heads to Mexico to find a range of treatment the US government has refused to approve, and he imports them himself, creating a members' club to subvert the law. This requires that he set his deep-seated prejudice aside so he can work with the transgendered Rayon (Leto). But a government lawyer (O'Neill) is determined to shut him down.

Yes, it's deeply infuriating to watch the American system try so hard to stop Woodruff from saving lives. Government officials continually outlaw his effective treatments so they can pawn off the toxic, over-priced AZT instead. So Woodruff travels the world in search of new medicine, and his business of course takes off. Vallee cleverly cuts through the 1980s period details to reveal Woodruff's earthy tenacity and an overpowering sense of humanity.

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