Movie Review: Verity

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Sometimes it is amazing to see a big miss of a movie like this, with arguably the two hottest female actors in the movie industry, Ann Hathaway and Dakota Johnson. Ann Hathaway has appeared in five movies this year (Mother Mary, The Devil Wears Prada 2, The Odyssey, The End of Oak Street, Verity), which has to be one of the all-time record number of movie appearances in one year for any actress in Hollywood history. Unfortunately, the new movie “Verity” is an amazingly big-time boring dud of a film, with idiotic twists and turns and an ending that fell completely flat. While sitting through these two hours, it was impossible to understand why this story could be a big Coleen Hoover bestseller, and the screenplay was then greenlit.

The logline for this movie: A struggling writer is hired to finish the work of a bestselling novelist who has been left unable to speak or move after an accident, but while living in the novelist’s isolated home, she discovers a disturbing manuscript that may reveal horrific secrets about the family—and she begins to question what is true and what is fiction. The problem after this good-sounding logline is that the rest of the story is nothing more than attempts to try and fail to trick the audience, with a convoluted, boring story and then a final twist that comes out of nowhere and makes no sense. This movie is one of the many that just kind of end with no satisfying conclusion, which is something that I have always hated as an idea for all movies.

Two of the better critical reviews: Slant Magazine: Described it as essentially all setup and no payoff, saying it repeatedly promises shocking developments but fails to deliver the thrills or passion. Screen Daily: Called it a “flimsy pastiche” of old erotic thrillers, arguing that its outrageousness eventually overwhelms its logic.

The Rotten Tomatoes consensus is a correct and very low 39%. I agree with this rating and recommend eating a pretzel if you’re looking for stupid twists and turns that make no sense.https://youtu.be/xdPMKhjMSFs

Movie Review: Primetime

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The new movie “Primetime” is about the television series that ran from 2004 to 2007, “To Catch a Predator”. The year 2004 marked the final season of “Friends”, and Seinfeld went off the air in 1998, setting the stage for an investigation show that tried to trap sexual predators of young girls and boys on national television. Amazingly, this show achieved #1 in ratings several times during its three-year run.

The lead reporter for this show was Chris Hansen, who would show up inside a house where the predator was waiting for some young person to arrive; then Hansen would question and humiliate the suspect, and then they would be arrested. The show followed this exact same series of events in every episode, which is probably why it only lasted three years.

For reasons unknown, a decision was made to make this television show from 20 years ago into a movie called Primetime, starring Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen. This movie looks like it was shot using low-grade film, as if it were a cheap documentary. I have no idea why a decision was made to turn a bad television show from 20+ years ago into a bad documentary-like movie. The high rating on Rotten Tomatoes of 87% makes even less sense.

Like the television show from 20 years ago, this movie is a series of the same scenes repeated several times over. It was slow and boring and predictable, and as a movie, it never should have been greenlit. I rate this film a big pass, mainly because it never should have been made in the first place.

Movie Review: Heart of the Beast

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The movie “Heart of the Beast” is arguably the greatest dog movie ever made, with the best acting performance in Brad Pitt’s career. Like “The Revenant” (2015) starring Leonardo DiCaprio, the months of hardship in the wilderness and danger in this film were as impressive as any movie I have ever seen. There is a high probability, for the same reasons DiCaprio won an Oscar for The Revenant, that Brad Pitt will win a Best Actor Oscar for this film.

Both Pitt and DiCaprio are very wealthy and successful actors, and it was hard to understand why either one of them would take roles like these at any stage in their careers. There were many parts of this film where it was impossible to figure out how they were able to shoot scenes of imminent danger with a high probability of major injury or death to both Brad Pitt and the dog Odin (Uber II). Then add months of living in the worst conditions in the world to film a movie.

Odin is a highly trained military/combat German Shepherd who served alongside Brad Pitt’s character, retired Army Special Forces veteran James Belmont. Odin lost his leg in the war in Afghanistan, has several scars on his face, and lost several teeth when he was hit by a brick. The intelligence and physical abilities, even with a prosthetic leg in this movie, are off-the-charts incredible. At times Odin seemed more like a superhero than a dog.

In the first 10% of this movie, a traveler played by J.K. Simmons runs into James and Odin for one night of drinking and talking before leaving them. I thought that this part of the movie seemed out of place and more filler, unrelated to this survival story.

This movie was filmed in New Zealand, but it represents the wilderness of Alaska, where James Belmont pilots a small plane that lands only on water. As in just about all stories about Alaska, its harsh wilderness and flying a small plane mean things do go wrong, putting James and Odin in severe danger many times in this impressive but fictional story. Through their years together in the war and now in Alaska, the love between Olin and James is as powerful as any relationship I have ever seen between a dog and a human being. There are many scenes in this movie that are hard to watch because the connection between this man and dog is so strong. The ending was as powerful and difficult to watch as any movie I have ever seen.

As almost everyone knows, the bond that humans have with dogs and cats have never been complicated. Human relationships with dogs and cats have always been simple and binary, without any of the insane complications that come with humans. I have never seen a movie where the well-known phrase “dog is God spelled backwards” has been truer.

The Rotten Tomatoes rating for this movie is 88%, with my rating in line with the audience rating of 97% and a strong recommendation to see this great film.