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Director Franklin J. Schaffner’s PLANET OF THE APES is a classic example of how sci-fi can be used to tackle controversial issues indirectly. Michael Wilson and Rod Serling’s adaptation of Pierre Boulle’s novel has the thoughtful examination of human nature that Serling’s previous work on TWILIGHT ZONE had. The story of an ape-ruled world where religious leaders control the thinking of their people is as provocative today as it was in the 1960s.

George Taylor (Charlton Heston, BEN-HUR) is an astronaut who signed up for the deep space mission to explore the outer reaches of space. He’s a cynic who hopes there is something better than man out there in the universe. When he and his fellow space explorers stumble on a planet after years of traveling, the humans there can’t speak. The world is ruled by talking apes. Taylor, having lost his ability to talk in his capture, is taken prisoner and studied by the inquisitive scientist Zira (Kim Hunter, THE SWIMMER). When Taylor tries to sign to her, she believes he is a special human that might confirm the theory of her boyfriend Cornelius (Roddy McDowall, THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE) that apes descended from man. However, their religious leader Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans, ROSEMARY’S BABY) believes the theory is blasphemous and disregards Taylor — until Taylor speaks and sends shockwaves through their society.
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Director James Toback and boxer Mike Tyson have been friends for years. Tyson played himself in two of Toback’s films. I think this is the key to this documentary’s success. Tyson opens up and gives his point of view on his career and his behavior. He makes sense of actions that made no sense before.

Tyson’s early life was not easy. He was a heavy kid who was beat up often. His mother slept around with men. At an early age, he fell in with thieves and thugs. Eventually he was arrested and put in juvenile detention. That is where he got into boxing. When he was set for release his boxing trainer didn’t want to see him fall back into crime, so he sent him to see pro trainer Cus D’Amato. At first Tyson thought about robbing the old white man, but soon he came to respect him and later love him like a father.
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With his latest, Mike Judge makes strides forward as a director, but steps backwards as a writer. In both OFFICE SPACE and IDIOCRACY, there was a rawness to the framing and the pacing, but the invention of the screenplay made up for it. In this comedy, Judge makes the material slick and flow easily, but has less original things to say and less thematic control.

Joel (Jason Bateman, JUNO) is the hard-working owner of an extract factory. General Mills is interested in buying his company and his partner Brian (J.K. Simmons, JUNO) is eager to never see the troublesome employees again. While business is booming, Joel’s personal life is in a huge rut. If he doesn’t get home by eight o’clock, his wife Suzie (Kristen Wiig, WHIP IT) put on the sweatpants and he gets nothing. His eye begins to wander when they hire a new temp, the gorgeous Cindy (Mila Kunis, FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL). His drugged out friend Dean (Ben Affleck, MALLRATS) suggests Joel hire a gigolo to seduce his wife so that he’ll have a free pass to sleep with Cindy. The problem is Cindy is a con artist who has shacked up with Joel’s injured employee Step (Clifton Collins Jr., CAPOTE) in order to convince the worker to sue for millions.
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Buy It Now!

Straight comedies aren’t usually the place to look for stunning visuals. So this inconsistent 1080p presentation of Mike Judge’s laugher won’t disappoint too many fans. The colors are good, but the blacks are patchy. The sharpness of the picture pops in some scenes, making it look the best any Judge film has looked, but then other scenes look soft and flat. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack isn’t any better. The speaker balance is front speaker skewed. While the dialog is crisp, the soundscape is flat, especially in scenes inside the extract plant. The only element that utilizes the 5.1 effectively is the scoring and music.

The special features are few, short and not too impressive. The only one of note is the 11 minute making of doc titled “Mike Judge’s Secret Recipe.” The featurette skims the surface of the production, focusing a great deal of the factory elements of the story. Judge talks about his inspirations for setting the film in a factory, which is the only real depth in the special features. But it’s not much. There are some funny moments, but not enough to enlighten fans on what Judge had intended with the overall film, which is his weakest to date. The only other features include some extended moments and one deleted scenes. They add nothing.