Warning: this editorial contains spoilers for Rise of the Planet of the Apes (and, for that matter, the original Planet of the Apes). Consider yourself warned, you maniacs! The original Planet of the Apes lends itself quite readily to allegory. 1968, the year of the film’s release, was the peak of one of the most tumultuous eras in American social history. Martin Luther King, Jr. was gunned down in April of that year, and Robert F. Kennedy’s death followed a mere two months later. Student resistance and campus demonstrations grew increasingly violent in their opposition to the Vietnam War, the Chicago DNC broke into an all-out war, and racial discord mounted. Of course, none of this had happened yet when Planet of the Apes went into production, but the intersections of intent and circumstance that permit the film to be read so heavily, so variously, and so often in allegorical terms enrich the original film and its sequels with resonance that outlives whatever else may date it. Beyond entertainment value, the Planet of the Apes series has lingered in the popular imagination not because of any strong connection to a specific associative meaning, but because of the many possible allegorical readings it is capable of containing. One of several reasons that Rise of the Planet of the Apes succeeds where previous reincarnations of the series did not is its reclaimed capacity for allegory.

Every day, come rain or shine or internet tubes breaking, Film School Rejects showcases a trailer from the past. Orson Welles is unrecognizable onscreen here, but his directing touch is absolutely all over it. Somehow, Charlton Heston as a Mexican is all over it too. With a stellar cast, this taut noir-ish drama has got everything sizzling in a border town that’s just waiting for a lit match. So why is everyone always smoking? Check out the trailer for yourself:

Every day, come rain or shine or internet tubes breaking, Film School Rejects showcases a trailer from the past. The word “epic” gets thrown around a lot today. Almost as much as “awesome.” It’s been all but rendered meaningless when connected to how great those buffalo wings were or how pleasing it was to hear the news that the local library was extending its hours. But EPIC used to mean something. And when it did mean something, it was this. This trailer. This movie. All the splendor of Golden Age Hollywood shoved onto a chariot with Charlton Heston cracking the whip and charging full speed ahead. Check out the trailer for yourself:

Every day, come rain or shine or internet tubes breaking, Film School Rejects showcases a trailer from the past. If you don’t mind a little bit of male objectification, check out this pitch-perfect trailer for a sci-fi movie where Charlton Heston wears a loin cloth and runs around screaming like a mad man. Which should narrow it down. Check out the trailer for yourself:

I have to start this post off with an admission: I have yet to see the new Harry Potter. I’m saving it for Thanksgiving weekend when I can return to my home state and see it with loved ones, so hopefully next week I’ll have a post on something more appropriately Potter-specific. But what I want to talk about today is not something related to Deathly Hollows specifically, but what it represents, which lies somewhere in the film’s critical reaction. While heaps of praise have been given to the newest installment of one of the biggest movie franchises in history based on one of the biggest book franchises in history (many calling it one of the best entries in the series), the biggest voice of detraction has been the notion that Deathy Hollows pt. 1 is not a “complete movie” per se – that it abruptly stops in medias res, that it has no “third act.” Whether or not this is how I will feel when I see the movie this week is unimportant, but what this movie – and its subsequent reaction – represents is of great importance.

Every Sunday, Film School Rejects presents a movie that was made before you were born and tells you why you should like it. This week, Old Ass Movies presents: The Ten Commandments (1956) On July 11th, 1920, the enigmatic Taidje Khan was born on a craggy island in Russia to Mongol parents. He would go on to become a radio announcer in occupied France, a nude model, and the pharaoh that refused to let Moses and his people go. That last job was in Cecil B. DeMille’s larger-than-epic epic about Charlton Heston’s beard and its theological powers to turn staffs into snakes and free a people from bondage by parting the waters of the Red Sea. With powerful eyes that held their own against the seasoned Heston, Khan made for an imposing young co-star as the evil, gold headdress-ed Rameses the Second.

Science Fiction is, sadly, not always seen as high art. However, there are some brilliant acting talents who have dared to slum it in the world of science fiction. Here’s the 15 most notable ones.

Whether you thought Charlton Heston was a God-fearing man who could actually make God fear him or another crazed gun nut who would shoot his mouth off faster than a bullet-spewing MP5, you have to admit he was a man worth admiring.

Welcome to FSR’s newest weekly feature in which I break down the good, the bad, and the ugly of what Hollywood has to offer.

The New York Times is reporting that legendary Academy Award Winning actor Charlton Heston has passed away at the age of 84. He died on Saturday night at his home in Beverly Hills with his wife, Lydia, at his side. In 2002, Heston revealed that he had symptoms related to Alzheimer’s disease.