Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

In this origin story and second “Planet” redux, scientist James Franco raises an ape with the help of a super drug. During Caesar’s maturation, the film does the near-impossible, humanizing the ape as it displays and elicits real emotions.

d: Rupert Wyatt | imdb.com | trailer | Ape escape | Charlie Rose

Red (2010)

Morgan Freeman sums up the spy game, saying “we’re getting the band back together,” and it’s a likeable bunch — Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren (with a machine gun) and Brian Cox — in a likeable movie. It’s likeable but not much more.

d: Robert Schwentke | imdb.com | trailer | Dunning

Adaptation. (2002)

Wonderfully strange and funny, the film is about screenwriting and orchid thieves and … Nicolas Cage plays twin brothers — real screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and fictional screenwriter Donald Kaufman. Brian Cox is dead-on as script doctor Robert McKee.

d: Spike Jonze | imdb.com | trailer | Brian Cox | Robert McKee