HEART OF THE BEAST (2026)

September 24, 2026

Greetings again from the darkness. Director David Ayer (the excellent END OF WATCH, 2012) is no fool. He wisely begins the movie by putting the audience at ease. Yes, the dog survives. We learn this in the opening scene he blocks the road of a pickup driver (Anna Lambe, “True Detective”). We immediately shift to flashback mode, unsure whether the dog’s owner is still alive. The first feature film screenplay from Cameron Alexander benefits immensely from a couple of key factors: stunning scenery and a touching bond between man (Oscar winner Brad Pitt) and dog (Odin, a properly renamed Uber).

Pitt plays James Belmont, retired after 30 years in Army Special Forces. His loyal companion, Odin, is a beautiful Shepherd who served as combat scout dog alongside James in multiple wars. Both carry their bodily and mental scars. Odin has been partially reassembled, including a prosthetic leg that doesn’t seem to slow him down. The two companions are now living a quiet life, close to nature, in the wilderness of Alaska. Well, it’s quiet except for multiple interruptions … some more dangerous than others.

One evening, an old-timer (Oscar winner JK Simmons) pulls up his canoe for a fireside chat with James. This allows us to learn some specifics about the background for man and ‘beast’.  The geezer is gone by the next morning, and a storm forces James and Odin into an early departure. It’s one that ends badly, as a heart attack causes a horrific plane crash. James and Odin are battered, but survive and begin a 58 mile trek through harsh Alaskan wilderness. The dangers lurking in nature are many. Some you expect, some you don’t. One segment recalls THE GREY, while another poses a nature-made tree bridge over raging river waters.

I may not be the first to notice that Brad Pitt has a face seemingly designed for the big screen, yet this time, his co-star’s face is equally impressive. Odin is a stunning creature and the bond these two share carries zero Hollywood fluff, and is sure to capture the emotions of most viewers. In fact, you should have nothing to do with anyone who doesn’t at least well up a bit during this one. Pitt has reunited with Ayer, his director from FURY (2014), and this survival story may work even better as a love story.

Opens in theaters on September 25, 2026

WATCH THE TRAILER

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Posted by David Ferguson

THE BEEKEEPER (2024)

January 11, 2024

Greetings again from the darkness. For those who take pride in their ability to keep track of body counts in movies, I can only say, best of luck with this one. Boom. Bang. Punch. Kick. Stab. Choke. Flip. Our hero, acting alone, uses every available attack to neutralize armies, SWAT teams, trained security teams, and greedy scumbags … all in the name of “protecting the hive”. OK, it’s mostly for revenge for causing the death of “the only person who took care of me.”

Director David Ayer (END OF WATCH 2012, SUICIDE SQUAD 2016) and screenwriter Kurt Wimmer (SALT, 2010) are very much at home in the action-violence genre, and adding the king of cinematic hand-to-hand combat, Jason Statham, to the mix can only mean more action and more fighting and more violence. There is no reason to critique a movie that delivers exactly what it sets out to deliver to an audience that expects exactly that.

Statham is in prime form as Adam Clay, a beekeeper on a farm owned by retired teacher Elise Parker (Phylicia Rashad, CREED). When a phishing scam drains her bank accounts, including that of the non-profit she administers, Clay reacts to the subsequent tragedy by tracking down the culprits of the scheme. Tech fraudsters are easy targets because we all despise them, and the film plays that up by exaggerating the obnoxious nature of those involved. A miscast Josh Hutcherson (THE HUNGER GAMES) plays Derek Danforth, an entitled little bleep who skateboards in the office to his next massage and wears outlandish outfits befitting a person desperate for attention. Adding to the psychological drama is FBI Agent Verona Parker (Emmy Raver-Lampman, “The Umbrella Academy”), the daughter of Elise, the woman who put Clay on his mission of reckoning.

Additional supporting roles include Bobby Naderi as Verona’s FBI partner, Jemma Redgrave as the President, a brief appearance by Minnie Driver as the FBI director (she takes three quick phone calls), and Oscar winner Jeremy Irons as Wallace Westwyld, the retired agent charged with keeping douchey Derek safe. The hook here is that beekeeper Clay is actually a retired secret agent known as “the Beekeeper”, and in one of the oddest sequences, his replacement (a wild character inspired by Prince?) brings a Gatling gun to try and end Clay once and for all. The film is silly and absurd, and right up the alley of those who embrace Statham’s stoic bulldozer of a man.

Opens in theaters on January 12, 2024

WATCH THE TRAILER

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Posted by David Ferguson

FURY (2014)

October 18, 2014

fury Greetings again from the darkness. When a filmmaker takes on WWII, he better have something new to say or a new way to show it. Director David Ayer (highly recommend his End of Watch, 2012) literally takes us inside a Sherman tank with its crew of 5 men, including their leader played by Brad Pitt.

Having the tank as a centerpiece brings a level of claustrophobia to the treacherous German war front. The battle scenes are excruciatingly tense, and actually beautifully filmed. This may seem an odd description for a war movie, but bouncing from inside the tank to the German countryside is done with such style that it provides contrast to the brutality and violence of war.

Pitt’s crew is made up of Shia LaBeouf, Michael Pena and Jon Bernthal (especially good). They are forced to take on a rookie with no tank training … but he can type 60 words per minute. Logan Lerman plays the rookie and he brings the natural sensitivity we’ve come to expect from his roles in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Noah. We buy off on the difficult transition since the others have fought campaigns together in Africa, Belgium and France. Jason Isaacs is also well cast as an Allied forces captain.

What works here are the battle sequences. What doesn’t really work are the numerous moments of personal drama injected to help us understand how war can change a man … no matter how hard he tries to hold on to his humanity. The sequence with the two German women, a piano and fried eggs seems especially drawn out and unbelievable. We understand the point pretty quickly, but the extended sequence becomes downright awkward.

The most interesting question the movie asks is whether a soldier can be so disgusted and sick of war, yet somehow addicted to the action. Mr. Ayers previously wrote U-571 (2000), so he is clearly interested in the mentality of soldiers in a claustrophobic setting. More of this approach would have been welcome here.

***NOTE: The film uses actual WWII tanks, and it’s the first time a Tiger I tank has been used in film.

***NOTE: Just a personal note here, but every time Brad Pitt said anything, I flashed back to his role in Inglourious Basterds. A change of inflection would have helped.

watch the trailer:

 

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Posted by David Ferguson

END OF WATCH (2012)

September 24, 2012

 Greetings again from the darkness. Hands down, this is the best cop movie in quite awhile. Not only that, it’s about street cops, not flashy detectives wearing $600 suits. This is no good cop/bad cop dance. These aren’t rebellious, power hungry cops run amok flashing their badges. Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Zavala (Michael Pena) are simply dedicated cops who are committed to serving the mission and surviving another day.

This film works for two reasons: the performances of Gyllenhaal and Pena, and the amazing writing and directing from David Ayer. Mr. Ayer is best known as the writer of Training Day, but also wrote Dark Blue and S.W.A.T, and directed Street Kings. He grew up in south central Los Angeles, and clearly has a talent for bringing real lifecop action to the big screen.

 Taylor and Pena are long time partners who have familiarity and banter down to a science. These are guys who become brothers based on spending every day together and trusting the other with their lives. These two scoff at the department mandate to write more traffic tickets, and instead find themselves smack dab in the middle of a Mexican drug cartel. That’s not a good place for two street cops and they soon wind up on the wrong list of some really bad people.

We see shootouts, car chases, chases on foot, rescues, traffic stops, house searches and just about anything else that these heroes are subjected to on a daily basis … just trying to maintain some sense of civility on their beat. No matter how frustrated you get with your job, put yourself in their “comfortable footwear” and imagine rolling up on “Big Evil”, who wants nothing more than to make you suffer.

 There is a really interesting thing going on with video cameras. Taylor is filming his daily activities for a class he is taking, while this group of bad guys is also seen filming their nightly crimes against humanity. Also, the supporting cast doesn’t play a huge role, but David Harbour, Frank Grillo, America Ferrera, Natalie Martinez and Anna Kendrick are all solid. The exception is Cody Horn who is way out of her element, and quite a distraction.

Pena and Gyllenhaal are a joy to watch and strike the necessary bond required for this movie to work. We never once doubt that these guys are brothers and fully trust worthy. Good guys doing a tough job in a bad part of the world. This is a gritty, realistic film that, at times, has a documentary look and feel to it. More of this, please.

SEE THIS MOVIE IF: you don’t want to miss the best cop movie in years

SKIP THIS MOVIE IF: your idea of a Buddy Flick is The Other Guys

watch the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf2K9GzgiF0

 

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Posted by David Ferguson