Verity

I went through a Colleen Hoover phase a few years ago (it was a strange time) and, out of all the books I read, Verity was my favorite (relatively speaking) so I was excited to see the movie adaptation at an early access screening last night with my nephew.  Despite several flaws, I enjoyed it for what it is and I had a lot of fun watching it with a large crowd.  Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway) is a best-selling author known for writing a series of novels from the villain's perspective.  After she has a car accident which leaves her in a catatonic state, her husband Jeremy Crawford (Josh Hartnett) hires struggling author Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson) to ghostwrite the remaining books in the series.  Lowen moves into their secluded house on a lake in Vermont in order to read through Verity's outlines and notes and finds a manuscript that appears to be her autobiography.  As she reads Verity's disturbing account, she begins a relationship with Jeremy and suspects that Verity might be faking her condition.  This reminded me a lot of The Housemaid because, like that adaptation, it is an atmospheric psychological thriller with a sleek and stylish production design (I loved the house because it has a very Gothic vibe) and lots of twists and turns.  Also, like that adaptation, it features two strong performances (Hathaway and Hartnett) that highlight the blandness of the third one (Johnson).  This is especially true whenever Johnson reads the manuscript aloud (which, unfortunately, is a large part of the runtime) because her delivery is monotone and her expression is very disengaged (there is even a line in which Lowen says that it's hard to tell if she is having fun because she has "resting bored face" and it got the biggest laugh of the night).  I do think Johnson is a good actress when she has good material to elevate her performance but this is based on a book you can buy at the airport (iykyk).  Still, this is a pretty faithful adaptation (except for a change to the ending that makes absolutely no sense) so fans of the book are sure to love it.

Note:  The scenes where Verity appears on Hot Ones and Call Her Daddy are hilarious.

Primetime

Last night my nephew and I saw Primetime at the Broadway and, the more I think about it, the more I like it.  Broadcast journalist Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson) hosts a reality show called To Catch a Predator, which grew from segments filmed for Dateline NBC, using hidden cameras to capture undercover sting operations conducted by the watchdog group Perverted Justice in which adult men are lured to a house to have sex with minors played by decoys before being confronted by Hansen.  He has grandiose ideas about serving the public good, even if the program is a bit sordid, and often treats his subordinates badly, especially his producer Andie Bender (Merritt Wever) and a decoy named Del Harvey (Phoebe Bridgers).  The show becomes wildly popular so the NBC Head of Programming Jeff Zucker (Himself) moves it to a prime time slot against ABC's Lost.  Hansen soon becomes preoccupied with improving ratings and hires an aspiring actor named Dan Plum (Skyler Gisondo) to portray a decoy but an indiscretion with a woman makes the stakes even higher for him.  He breaks with the usual protocol to actively pursue a high profile predator, assistant district attorney Bill Conradt (Alex Winter), with tragic consequences.  The focus of this movie is the intersection between justice and entertainment and it was very intriguing to see how each character abandons the pursuit of the greater good in favor of self-promotion, especially when Dan continues to participate despite his misgivings because he wants to earn a SAG card.  The visuals are incredibly stylized with distorted angles, extreme close-ups, high-contrast lighting, and lurid color grading (I found it very uncomfortable to watch at times) and it replicates the look of the original show with 16mm film.  Pattinson, who imitates Hansen's voice and mannerisms so accurately that it is uncanny, gives a fascinating and unsettling performance as a man so consumed by his own success that it becomes his downfall and I was particularly struck by the many scenes in which he practices his lines while looking in a mirror because you can see him unraveling right before your eyes. Wever and Gisondo are also outstanding and I loved some of the cameos for the child predators (I was shocked, in more ways than one, to see Jonathan Lipnicki).  This is definitely a movie that will generate interesting conversations and I highly recommend it.

Heart of the Beast

The second movie in my double feature last night was Heart of the Beast and I, along with almost everyone else in the theater, was reduced to tears by this touching story about the bond between a man and his dog.  James Belmont (Brad Pitt) is a retired special forces commander who is camping in the Alaskan wilderness with his combat dog Odin.  They both have injuries and PTSD from their past deployments (the scene in which Odin has a nightmare and then is comforted by Belmont is one of the most affecting in the movie) which are often shown in flashbacks.  Severe weather forces them to leave their campsite early by plane but Belmont suffers a heart attack mid-flight.  Odin is ejected out of the plane before Belmont crash lands in a lake.  They both survive and eventually find each other but they are injured and must travel on foot over 50 miles to find the nearest road.  Their journey is incredibly treacherous with many threats (my favorite scene is the one in which Odin stares down a grizzly) and they must rely on each other in order to survive.  This takes some time to get going but I liked seeing the relationship between Belmont and Odin established through their interactions and I also liked the brief scenes involving Watkins (J.K. Simmons), a fellow camper, because that provides opportunities for exposition without having to resort to voice over narration.  Pitt gives a great performance (one of his best) that is both physical and very poignant (bring some tissues if you are a dog lover) but he has a great scene partner in Uber (the German Shepherd who plays Odin along with three of his offspring, Seeka, Ryker, and Hondo, who act as stunt doubles) because he has the most expressive eyes and often steals the show.  The scenery is absolutely gorgeous (New Zealand, one of my favorite places, stands in for Alaska) and the action sequences are fraught with tension.  This is an entertaining survival story but the relationship between Belmont and Odin is what makes it so compelling.  It is a must-see for dog lovers!

Forgotten Island

The first movie in my double feature last night was Forgotten Island and I really enjoyed it.  Jo (H.E.R.) and Raissa (Liza Soberano) are best friends in the Philippines who bond over the stories about the forgotten island of Nakali told by Jo's grandmother Lola (Dolly de Leon).  They have a series of adventures looking for a porthole to Nakali and commemorate each one with a charm on their matching friendship bracelets. Raissa will soon be leaving to attend Caltech and, when they spend their last night together reminiscing about their friendship, they find a sand dollar that creates the porthole.  Jo is sad about losing her best friend so she convinces Raissa to enter it but they wake up on the island without the sand dollar and without memories of the past twelve hours.  Hoping that retracing their steps from the previous night will lead them to the sand dollar, they join forces with magical creatures from Filipino mythology, including Raww (Dave Franco), a were-dog, Bungi (Manny Jacinto), a demon baby, Mermahn (Kevin McCann), a prince of the merfolk, Datu (Jo Koy), chief of the kapre, and Truffle Wuffle (Ronny Chieng), king of the duwende, to help them remember.  They also encounter Manang (Lea Salonga), a terrifying vampire, because she wants her wings back from Raissa who has no memory of stealing them.  Eventually, Raww leads them to Batiba (Jenny Slade), an agoraphobic demon who craves the experiences of others because she cannot have her own, and she offers to give them the sand dollar in exchange for their friendship bracelets but will they give up their memories of each other to return home?  I really loved the messages about friendship and making memories because no one is really gone as long as someone remembers them.  I also really loved the character arc for Manang because she ceases to be the villain once she recovers her memory from Batiba.  I saw an interview with Salonga in which she spoke about using the dementia suffered by her family members to inform her characterization and I found that to be incredibly moving because of my mom's dementia.  The use of folklore to tell the story is very significant because, even if I didn't understand specific allusions, I definitely understood the importance of remembering the stories passed down from generations.  Finally, the images are absolutely dazzling, even if the pace is a bit frenetic, with lots of references to different styles of animation.  This is a lot of fun and I hope that more people seek it out.

Resident Evil

I have never played the popular video game nor have I seen any of the other movies in this franchise but I am a big fan of Zach Cregger so I decided to see Resident Evil last night and I had a lot of fun with it.  Bryan (Austin Abrams) is a hapless medical courier who is given a last minute high priority package to deliver to Raccoon City General Hospital.  He argues with his pregnant girlfriend on the phone while driving on a snowy mountain road and hits a pedestrian (Andrea Miltnerova) as a result.  He attempts to take her to the hospital with the help of the county sheriff (Johnno Wilson) but chaos ensues in which he has a series of escalating misadventures involving mutants infected with a virus created by the Umbrella Corporation and released in a laboratory accident.  He eventually encounters several scientists with the Umbrella Corporation (Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, and others) which culminates in a dramatic standoff at the hospital.  While this is quite gory with some highly effective jump scares, I would call it a dark comedy rather than a horror movie because there was more laughter than screams from my audience.  What makes it so amusing is that Bryan is completely incompetent and survives in spite of, rather than because of, his actions (there is a hilarious running gag in which he encounters a series of padlocks that he cannot open) and Abrams has brilliant comedic timing as he reacts to his circumstances.  This choice really captures the experience of playing the game (I also liked the meta commentary about playing video games).  Finally, the monsters are really cool and I was very impressed by the use of mostly practical effects (the main monster is performed by several professional dancers harnessed together who move in unison).  This is definitely my favorite movie adapted from a video game (you do not need to be familiar with the game to enjoy it) and I recommend it with the caveat that it contains a lot of profanity.