“PLANET OF THE APES” MILLENNIAL TRILOGY

My personal favorite films on this list are those within the recent “Planet of the Apes” trilogy, which I believe subsequently took motion capture beyond even “Avatar.”

Andy Serkis, who played Caesar in “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” and “War for the Planet of the Apes,” was a revelation. For the first time with a recognizable species, all of the simian characters were truly soulful. The performance of Serkis in particular was outstanding, made so by his facial expressions.

Ever own a dog that communicated through his or her eyes and body movements? Serkis’ Caesar was much the same, and the actor delivered a troika of heart-wrenching performances that were, to my mind, criminally ignored for Oscar consideration.

SO WHERE ARE WE NOW?

Today, we have robot brothels, and innumerable virtual reality shows and attractions. Put on your goggles and you really are in a “Star Trek: The Next Generation” holodeck.

However, deep fakes are potentially the most dangerous, and invasive, of all related burgeoning technology.

Porn sites regularly utilize deep fakes to meet a whole other massive demand. Want to fantasize about having sex with your favorite celebrity? Google your desires and chances are you will find what you are looking for. The videos are horrific in the sense that it has become increasingly difficult to determine what is fake at all.

We also have holograms. Tupac really does live, you see. He returned in 2012 (ignore the 1995 stamp on the video). He was the first musician to be so honored, and he won’t be the last.

Michael Jackson’s return at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards, in my opinion, wasn’t nearly as impressive.

DE-AGING

The recent phenomenon of de-aging, a process whereby a combination of CGI, prosthetics, and in some cases stand-in actors who resemble the originals, was recently initiated into the (newly-coined, for the purposes of this article) Human Tech Club.

Marvel led the charge. The top image is of Robert Downey, Jr. in 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War.” Michael Douglas in 2018’s “Ant-Man” is below, followed by Kurt Russell in 2017’s “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2.” At the time of filming, the actors were, respectively, 50, 73, and 65 years of age.