Searching

I was very intrigued by the premise of the movie Searching (the entire narrative is told on computer screens and smartphones) so I decided to see a Thursday preview last night.  I was pretty much on the edge of my seat the whole time and I have to admit that the resolution took me completely by surprise.  David Kim (John Cho) has what he considers to be a close relationship with his daughter Margot (Michelle La) but she has been struggling since the death of her mother (Sara Sohn) two years earlier.  When Margot doesn't come home one night he files a missing persons report and Detective Rosemary Vick (Debra Messing) is assigned to the case.  After a series of dead ends, David starts searching through Margot's social media accounts and finds some unsettling information about his daughter.  He begins to realize that he didn't really know her at all.  I found the story to be compelling and Cho gives an incredible performance as David becomes more and more frantic.  I was deeply invested in the outcome and there were a few plot twists that had me on an emotional roller coaster.  The use of technology throughout the movie is extremely clever and, although it felt forced a couple of times, it gives the story an immediacy and a tension that a traditional narrative might have lost.  It was fascinating, yet again, to see how different an online persona can be from the person we really are!  I highly recommend this thriller!

South Pacific

I think "Some Enchanted Evening" is one of the most romantic songs, ever.  Hearing it under any circumstance is enough to make me swoon but hearing it yesterday while watching the movie South Pacific on the big screen was simply amazing!  It is such a treat to see all of the old favorites I remember watching at my Grandma Anderson's house on the big screen!  Set on an island in the Pacific during World War II, South Pacific tells the epic love story between Nellie Forbush (Mitzi Gaynor), a navy nurse, and Emile de Becque (Rossano Brazzi), a wealthy French plantation owner with a past that threatens their romance.  When de Breque volunteers for a dangerous mission, Nellie realizes the only important thing is their love.  There is also a secondary story between Lieutenant Joe Cable (John Kerr) and a beautiful Polynesian girl (France Nuyen) as well as a group of Seabees, led by Luther Billis (Ray Walston), who provide lots of comic relief.  With so many wonderful Rodgers and Hammerstein songs, including "There Is Nothing Like a Dame," "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair," "I'm In Love with a Wonderful Guy," "Happy Talk," and "Honey Bun," this movie has a fun and lighthearted tone but it deals with serious issues and the message of acceptance is an important one.  This movie is so beautiful (although there are some weird color filters in some of the musical numbers).  I especially loved the scenes on Bali Ha'i because it really is a paradise.  Gaynor is delightful as Nellie Forbush and Brazzi is handsome and charming as de Becque.  Even though most of the singing voices are dubbed I really enjoyed all of the performances, especially "Some Enchanted Evening" and "Younger than Springtime."  I love these old fashioned musicals so much and I'm glad that TCM shows them on the big screen.

Amy Grant at the Sandy Amphitheater

It may surprise some of you to learn that for a time in my early twenties I was really, really into Christian rock.  One of my roommates when I was a counselor at a summer camp in college played Christian music all of the time and I gradually came to love it, especially Amy Grant!  I think I listened to her album The Collection non-stop for almost a year and I particularly loved the song "Everywhere I Go" because it made me feel like God was always with me no matter what I was doing or what I believed.  I still feel the same way about that song to this day.  When Amy Grant gained more mainstream popularity, everyone in my family became fans and we have seen her in concert together several times, including a concert at Abravanel Hall that was amazing!  My Mom, my sister Marilyn, and I were able to see her again at the Sandy Amphitheater last night and we enjoyed it so much!  Luckily she played "Everywhere I Go" early on in the show and it was such a wonderful experience to hear it live!  She played for almost 90 minutes straight and included a really nice selection of her hits: "Find A Way," "Big Yellow Taxi," "Saved By Love," "Takes A Little Time," "That's What Love Is For," "Baby Baby," "Lucky One," "Every Heartbeat," "Our Time Is Now," "House of Love," and "Better Than a Hallelujah."  In the middle of her set she played acoustic versions of "El-Shaddai" and "Thy Word" which were absolutely lovely.  She closed the concert with covers of "Turn! Turn! Turn!" by the Byrds and "Put a Little Love In Your Heart" which got the audience up and dancing.  For the encore she sang a touching version of "I Will Remember You."  She was so down to earth and told lots of anecdotes between every song.  She was really excited for the full moon and told the audience to let her know when it came up from behind the mountains.  She was ecstatic when the crowd pointed it out to her and told us that we should all take a moment to appreciate it!  I love her!  Marilyn and I sang just about every word (we also sang her songs at the top of our lungs on the drive home) and my Mom had a huge smile on her face through the whole show.  It was a perfect summer night and a wonderful concert!

Papillon

I haven't seen the 1973 movie Papillon starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman but I went to see the remake last night.  This movie tells the incredible true story of Henri "Papillon" Charierre (Charlie Hunnam), a safecracker in Paris during the 1930s who is framed for murder and sentenced to a penal colony in French Guiana.  He immediately decides to try to escape, despite the threat of solitary confinement, and forms an alliance with Louis Dega (Rami Malek), a wealthy convicted forger.  Dega, who is mild-mannered and weak, offers to finance his escape in return for protection and Papillon must go to great lengths to keep him safe.  Conditions are brutal and, after several failed attempts to gain their freedom, they are finally transferred to Devil's Island from which escape seems impossible.  What elevates this movie from the standard tale of survival is the unlikely bond of friendship between the two men.  Papillon is often punished for fighting while defending Dega from attacks, suffers intense deprivation while in solitary confinement because of him, and is captured again because he will not leave him behind.  After all of that, Dega provides Papillon with the will to survive after he arrives on Devil's Island a broken man.  I found the relationship between the two men to be very compelling and both Hunnam and Malek give great performances.  The action is intense and harrowing and, while some of the scenes are difficult to watch, I don't think the violence is especially gratuitous and the cinematography is surprisingly beautiful in its brutality.  Since I've not seen the original, I can't speak to how this one compares but I think it is pretty good and I recommend it.

2001: A Space Odyssey

Since 2001: A Space Odyssey was released the year I was born, I have never had the opportunity to see this groundbreaking movie on the big screen...until now!  It is being re-released in theaters in glorious 70mm film in honor of its 50th anniversary and I had the chance to see it last night.  Millions of years ago in Africa, a group of apes discovers an otherworldly black monolith which seemingly directs them to use the bones of a dead animal as a weapon which gives them an advantage over a rival group of apes.  Millions of years later a group of astronauts discovers this same black monolith on the moon.  It produces a strange frequency which leads them to send an expedition to Jupiter.  During this expedition the ship's computer, HAL 9000, tries to sabotage the mission but eventually the final remaining crewmember, David Bowman (Keir Dullea), reaches Jupiter.  After traveling through strange cosmic phenomena, Bowman finds himself in a Neoclassical bedroom where he lives out the rest of his life.  As he lays dying, he sees the black monolith and is transformed into a fetus which then returns to the Earth.  What is the monolith?  I think that everyone who watches this film will have a different interpretation and I think screenwriters Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke intended it thus.  In my opinion, the monolith represents man's evolutionary journey.  When the apes begin using the bone as a weapon, it gives them a distinct advantage, access to the waterhole, which sets in motion the evolution from ape to man.  Man eventually reaches for the stars and evolves into a spaceman.  A spaceman travels to a higher level of consciousness and evolves into the Star Child which then travels back to Earth to bring about a rebirth (the ending is ambiguous but that is my interpretation).  Seeing this on an IMAX screen with Dolby sound was absolutely incredible because, more than anything, this movie is a visual and auditory experience which has been lacking in my viewings on TV, especially the journey through the Star Gate to Jupiter which made me feel like I was on a weird acid trip.  Whether you love it or hate it no one can deny the influence it has had on later movies, especially in the depiction of space travel, suspended animation, zero gravity, and artificial intelligence.  It is even more amazing when you consider that this movie was released before man reached the moon!  This is definitely one that should be seen on the big screen!

Note:  I cannot hear Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss without thinking of the opening sequence in this movie!  For a really long time I didn't know it was a piece of classical music.  I thought it was just part of the score!

Sam Smith at the Vivint Arena

I briefly considered the advisability of seeing a concert during the first week of school but I love Sam Smith so much that I decided to get a ticket any way!  I knew that I would be really tired today but the concert was so fabulous that it was worth it.  The stage was a large triangle that jutted out onto the floor and there were multiple platforms for his amazing band (not only were they great musicians but they also had some epic choreography, too) and back-up singers.  He entered and exited the stage through some of the platforms several times during the show (often when there was some misdirection going on with the large pyramid at the back of the stage).  I really enjoyed his interactions with the audience because he seemed so sincere and genuine!  I love him for the same reason that I love Adele.  He is unabashedly himself and he doesn't conform to anyone's stereotypes about what a pop star should be.  It also doesn't hurt that he can belt out a song, which he did all night to the delight of the crowd!  He sang quite a few of his hits including "I'm Not the Only One," which got the crowd singing, "Lay Me Down," "Nirvana," "I've Told You Now," "Latch," "Money on My Mind," and "Like I Can."  He also performed a dramatic rendition of "Writing's on the Wall" from the Bond movie Spectre with an extended piano and cello intro and, even though I don't really love that song, I loved his performance of it.  He devoted a large portion of his setlist to his latest album The Thrill of It All which made me very happy because I love this album even though, as he acknowledged, it is filled with very depressing songs!  He began the concert with "Burning," and continued with "One Last Song," "Say It First," "One Day at a Time," "Baby, You Make Me Crazy," "Midnight Train," my favorite song from the album, "HIM," with a great message about love, and "Too Good at Goodbyes," another favorite which ended the set.  For the encore, he sang "Palace," "Stay With Me," which definitely got the audience singing, and "Pray."  I loved this concert and I’m so glad that I decided to go!

Note:  Rather unusually, I didn't go to any concerts over the summer but I have quite a few coming up this fall!

Pandas

I can think of no better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than to watch baby pandas frolicking on an IMAX screen so that is what I did yesterday.  The new documentary Pandas begins by telling us that these animals are being pushed further and further into the mountains by the overdevelopment of China's forests and that they are being isolated into small groupings which is limiting their biodiversity.  Because they are so endangered, Rong Hou, the head of research at the Chengdu Panda Base, is spearheading a program to introduce pandas born in captivity into the wild.  Then we meet Qian Qian and follow her journey as she is set free.  I loved learning about the process of teaching pandas how to be wild and the footage of Qian Qian is absolutely adorable.  I also loved the bond between Qian Qian and her handlers because it is so evident that she loves them.  You can't help but root for her to succeed!  She does have a major setback but this documentary is not quite as emotionally manipulative the Disneynature films (I am still not over Dawa's death in Born in China).  My only complaint is that this documentary is so short (the run-time is barely 45 minutes which is a bit disappointing given the price of an IMAX ticket) and the fate of Qian Qian is unresolved.  However, this documentary has an important message and the pandas are delightful so I highly recommend it!

Note:  The 3D footage felt so real that I keep swatting flies away from my face!

Alpha

The trailer for Alpha really intrigued me so I went to see it Friday night.  During the Paleolithic period in Europe, members of a tribe go on a bison hunting expedition and Keda (Kodi Smit-McPhee), the son of the chief, is hunting with them for the first time.  He wants to make his father proud of him and show the tribe that he is worthy of leading them but he displays weakness multiple times on the journey.  During the actual battle, he is seriously injured by a bison causing the tribe to leave him for dead but he eventually regains consciousness and begins making his way back home.  When a pack of wolves attacks him, he injures the leader and the rest of the wolves run away.  Unable to kill it, Keda begins nursing it back to health.  Since both of them are injured and isolated they eventually bond and help each other brave the elements to get back home.  I loved this movie!  It is absolutely beautiful with stunning cinematography and dazzling effects.  The action sequences, especially the bison hunt and a scene under a frozen lake, are very well staged.  The story, while simple, is incredibly heart-warming as Keda and the wolf begin to depend on each other.  Their relationship is lovely to watch and there were times when I started to tear up, especially when Keda tells the wolf that he can't lose him and begins carrying him.  There is not a lot of dialogue, and that is in an unidentifiable language with subtitles, but Smit-McPhee gives an incredible performance in a highly physical role.  His desire to please his father is communicated with just a look and his despair when he finds the cairn his father made for him is very affecting.  He has a genuine character arc that feels triumphant, if a bit sentimental.  If you have ever loved a dog go see this movie.

Note:  I saw this in IMAX 3D and I would recommend that format because the visuals are truly remarkable.

Mile 22

I am a huge fan of espionage thrillers so I have been looking forward to Mile 22 since I saw the first trailer a few months ago.  James Silva (Mark Wahlberg) is an extremely volatile member of a covert and elite paramilitary group within the CIA known as Overwatch.  When a deadly radioactive isotope capable of leveling several major cities goes missing, Silva's team is tasked with finding it.  One of their informants, Li Noor (Iko Uwais), brings a disk containing the locations of this isotope to the American embassy in Indonesia.  He will give them the password if they give him asylum in the U.S.  The team must transport him, you guessed it, 22 miles from the embassy to an airfield for extraction and it seams everyone, from Indonesian agents to a random group of Russians, wants him dead.  The action in this movie is amazing, particularly during a fight between Noor and two potential assassins in the embassy while the former is handcuffed to a bed, during a high-speed chase between cars and motorcycles through city streets, and during a shoot-out in an apartment building.  It is intense, incredibly violent, and graphic but it is also riveting.  However, the editing is very chaotic with cuts that sometimes last for mere seconds.  The story is a mess and half the time I didn't know what was going on.  I enjoyed it much more after they got through the exposition in the first act and settled into the mission of transporting Noor and I liked the twist at the end which did clear up some inconsistencies (although it has a very ambiguous ending to set up a possible sequel).  The dialogue consists mainly of characters spewing vitriol, peppered with profanity, as fast as they can and it gets really old.  Most of the characters are extremely unlikable, especially Silva.  At one point several characters speculate about what kind of psychological disorder Silva might have and one of them says that he is just an asshole.  That's basically how I felt about him as well.  Wahlberg mostly glowers at the camera but I did like John Malkovich as the team's handler and I think Lauren Cohan has a few affecting moments as a team member with family issues.  Ronda Rousey is surprisingly good as another team member.  My reaction to this movie is much like my reaction to American Assassin.  It is somewhat entertaining but there is nothing that we haven't seen done better in other espionage thrillers.  Hardcore fans of the genre will probably like it more than the casual movie-goer.

Slender Man

Horror movies are hit and miss with me.  I like to be genuinely scared but movies that can actually scare me are few and far between (go here and here).  However, the premise for Slender Man seemed pretty terrifying so I went to see it Saturday afternoon.  Four teens, Wren (Joey King), Hallie (Julia Goldani Telles), Chloe (Jaz Sinclair), and Katie (Annalise Basso), become fascinated by the urban legend of Slender Man and decide to watch a video that will summon him in order to disprove the myth.  When one of them disappears, the other three try to make contact with him and are subsequently terrorized.  Not only is this movie not scary but it is incredibly boring.  The filmmakers took a promising subject, a truly creepy internet meme with tragic real world repercussions, and, not knowing where to go with the story, incorporated every image from every horror film we've ever seen into a jumbled mess that went on and on...and on.  The only other person in my screening actually left half way through!  A derivative script might be forgiven but the execution is just as bad.  The lighting, or lack thereof, is terrible and makes it difficult to see what is happening (which is not much).  It is almost as if the filmmakers thought a spooky atmosphere would be an adequate substitute for a story.  The editing is haphazard at best and some scenes make absolutely no sense, particularly one in a science lab (I heard that this particular scene was edited from the original to get the PG-13 rating but it should have been cut altogether if that is the case). The acting is absolutely abysmal but you can't really fault these young actresses because their characters are so one-dimensional.  The most interesting character with an actual backstory is the first one to disappear.  This movie is an absolute mess and I definitely recommend giving it a miss.

BlacKkKlansman

It seems like I have been waiting forever to see BlacKkKlansman and I finally had the chance on Friday night.  I have to say right now that this is one of the best films of the year and I know that I am am going to be thinking about it for some time to come.  It tells the true story of how Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) joined the Colorado Springs Police Department as its first black officer and then infiltrated the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan with the help of a fellow officer, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver).  This film is incredibly powerful and, as I mentioned, thought-provoking.  I had an almost visceral reaction to some of what I saw on the screen but I also laughed out loud in many places.  Spike Lee does a masterful job in creating a film that is funny and entertaining but also has a definite message that is particularly salient for our times (but one that is not shoved down our throats).  I loved the juxtaposition of Klan meetings with meetings held by Stallworth's girlfriend Patrice (Laura Harrier) for Black Power.  While the Klan is definitely portrayed in a very negative light I found it eerie that both groups were basically shouting the same rhetoric.  Ron Stallworth is seemingly the voice of reason in both of these groups when he says that fighting hate needs to come from within rather than through violence and that is a message that is desperately needed right now.  I loved Washington's portrayal of Stallworth and I found him to be absolutely riveting.  There is a scene where he reacts to the targets used by the Klan for shooting practice that had me in tears.  I also enjoyed Driver's performance (I find him strangely appealing), particularly when he realizes that what he is doing is becoming personal.  This is an important film that I think everyone should see and I highly recommend it!

The Meg

I saw a Thursday preview of this summer's obligatory shark movie, The Meg, with a large and rowdy crowd and, surprisingly, I thought it was pretty good.  Jason Statham plays Jonas Taylor, a rescue diver who once abandoned a submarine when he saw a giant shark attacking it and is now in disgrace eking out a living in Thailand because no one believed him.  Off the coast of China five years later, a marine research station, financed by billionaire Jack Morris (Rainn Wilson), has sent a submersible below the Mariana Trench where it is attacked by a giant shark which they identify as a megalodon thought to be extinct.  The researchers convince Taylor to rescue the submersible because his ex-wife is on board which leads to a bit of vindication for Taylor (and a possible romance with one of the oceanographers played by Li Bingbing).  However, the rescue of the submersible has freed the megalodon from the Mariana Trench and it now threatens one of the most densely populated beaches in Asia.  Led by Taylor, our team of expendable researchers must try to kill it in some gravity-defying maneuvers.  The script is very derivative, some of the acting is stilted, much of the dialogue is cringe-worthy, and the CGI is messy at times but somehow this movie is still awesome!  Once it gets going, it is absolutely relentless and some of the action sequences are incredibly suspenseful.  The crowd at my screening gasped out loud during several tense moments.  If you are a fan of these action thrillers, I suspect you will like The Meg and I recommend seeing it on the biggest screen possible with as many people as possible.

Note:  Pippin steals the show!

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society

A book club that I belonged to a number of years ago read The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows and I found it to be charming.  I've been waiting for this movie adaptation ever since I found out about it and I have to admit that I was a little bit sad to hear that it wasn't getting a theatrical release in the U.S.  However, I am glad that I got to watch it yesterday on Netflix because I really liked it.  During the German occupation of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands, Elizabeth McKenna (Jessica Brown Findlay) hosts a dinner for her friends Isola Pribby (Katherine Parkinson), Eben Ramsey (Tom Courtenay), Amelia Maugery (Penelope Wilton), and Dawsey Adams (Michiel Huisman).  Afterwards they are caught out after curfew by the Germans and hastily concoct the Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society as the reason for their meeting.  They are then obliged to keep meeting each week and find the solace they need to survive the war in books (and sustenance from the privations of war in Eben's potato peel pie).  After the war Dawsey begins a correspondence with Juliet Ashton (Lily James), a best-selling author in London, when he finds her name and address in a used book.  She decides to visit Guernsey with the hope of writing about their society, against the wishes of her publisher (Matthew Goode) and her fiance (Glen Powell), and gets caught up in an intrigue about a missing member and a possible romance with another member.  It is the kind of British period piece that I love with a gentle tone, beautiful locations, and a stellar cast.  The action unfolds very slowly as we get to know each member of the society as the mystery unravels and I was completely drawn in (it has been so long since I read the book that I forgot many of the details).  The theme of how books can bring people together is very heartwarming and the romance is sweet and old-fashioned.  While filming did not actually take place on Guernsey, the locations are simply gorgeous, particularly the rocky coastline and the cobblestone streets.  James is absolutely engaging as Juliet while Huisman is handsome and brooding as Dawsey.  The rest of the cast (almost like a Downton Abbey reunion) is also excellent with an affecting performance by Wilton and a delightful one by Parkinson as the eccentric Isola.  This is a perfect movie for a lazy afternoon and I highly recommend it, especially to fans of the novel.

Note:  Have fun figuring out the books they discuss during the credits!

Crazy Rich Asians

Romantic comedies are a hard sell for me.  I think most of them are cheesy and incredibly predictable but the trailers for Crazy Rich Asians made me laugh out loud so I put it on my list.  I had the chance to see a sneak peek last night and I actually really liked it.  Granted, it is rather predictable, but I enjoyed this humorous take on the Cinderella story.  Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) is an economics professor at N.Y.U.  She has been dating Nick Young (Henry Golding) for almost a year when he suggests that she accompany him to Singapore to attend his best friend's wedding and meet his family.  She suddenly realizes that Nick is more than he appears to be when they end up in first class on the plane.  She meets his wealthy and traditional mother Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh), who thinks she is an outsider, and his jealous ex-girlfriend (Jing Lusi), who thinks she is just a gold-digger.  She does have a few allies, including Nick's cousin Oliver (Nico Santos), and Peik Lin (Awkwafina), a college roommate who lives in Singapore, but will her love for Nick overcome his family's disapproval?  When all is said and done it is a traditional romantic comedy with a plot that does not deviate from the usual tropes.  However, Wu and Golding are extremely charismatic as the main couple and they have a lot of chemistry together.  It is really easy to root for them to be together.  Yeoh imbues Eleanor with a bit of vulnerability so the character has some depth and you understand her perspective.  Awkwafina and Santos provide plenty of comic relief (everyone in this screening laughed out loud multiple times, as did I), especially lunch with Peik Lin's family and the make-over montage.  I also really liked the message about being true to yourself (although a subplot involving Nick's cousin and her husband seemed superfluous to me).  Finally, all of the over-the-top and glamorous parties are so much fun and provide for some great escapist entertainment, particularly the wedding and bachelor party.  I recommend this movie because it is so much fun!

Christopher Robin

Monday afternoon I went to see Christopher Robin and I can't think of a more heart-warming way to spend an afternoon!  I absolutely loved it.  Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor) has left the Hundred Acre Wood for boarding school, World War II, and then a job at a luggage company in London.  He has lost his way and spends more time at work than with his wife Evelyn (Hayley Atwell) and his daughter Madeline (Bronte Carmichael).  His old friend Winnie-the-Pooh (voiced by Jim Cummings) comes to London to save him and they eventually end up back in the Hundred Acre Wood where Eyeore (voiced by Brad Garrett), Tigger (also voiced by Jim Cummings), Piglet (voiced by Nick Mohammed), Rabbit (voiced by Peter Capaldi), Kanga (voiced by Sophie Okonedo), Roo (voiced by Sara Sheen) and Owl (voiced by Toby Jones) help him realize the important things in life.  The action is very slow and gentle as Christopher Robin rediscovers his imagination and plays with his friends again.  The scene where he defeats the Heffalump is so endearing!  Ewan McGregor is absolutely charming in the role and Bronte Carmichael is adorable as Madeline, who also needs a bit of rescuing by her father's friends.  The animation is incredible and it looks as if actual stuffed animals have come to life.  I loved Winnie-the-Pooh and every time there was a close-up of his sweet little face my heart would just melt.  I wanted to hug him!  In my opinion, this is a sweet and old-fashioned film with a nice message about remembering what is important.  I highly recommend it! 

The Darkest Minds

I saw The Darkest Minds, an action thriller based on the first book in the best-selling series by Alexandra Bracken, with my sister and nephew at the drive-in last Saturday.  In a dystopian future the majority of the children have been killed by a mysterious illness.  The few remaining children have mutated and now have special powers.  The government, fearing their powers, has rounded them up and put them in internment camps where they are color-coded and segregated according to their powers:  green for enhanced intelligence, yellow for manipulating electricity, blue for manipulating matter, orange for mind control, and red for fire breathing.  Those who are orange are deemed too dangerous and are immediately terminated.  Ruby (Amandla Stenberg), who is classified as orange, passes for green for several years.  When her true powers are discovered, a sympathetic doctor (Mandy Moore), helps her escape from the camp but Ruby isn't sure she can trust her.  She eventually teams up with other escaped children, Liam (Harris Dickinson), Charles or "Chubs" (Skylan Brooks), and Suzume of "Zu" (Miya Cech), and they go on a journey to find a place where they can live in safety.  I like Y/A dystopian literature because my students like it and I am a fan of anything that gets them reading.  I also generally like the movie adaptations of these books but this one is mediocre at best in my opinion.  I think it has a lot of plot holes and it is a bit derivative and boring.  However, my thirteen-year-old nephew, a member of the target demographic for this movie, absolutely loved it!  He really liked how the characters face challenges and overcome the odds to survive in a hostile world.  I think this theme is why so many teens like dystopian novels and movies.  While I didn't especially like this movie, I definitely recommend it for teens who, I suspect, will love it as much as my nephew!

The Pirates of Penzance at CPT

Last night I had the chance to see the Gilbert & Sullivan comic operetta The Pirates of Penzance at the CenterPoint Theatre and it was so much fun. Frederic (Alan Smith) has reached his 21st birthday and wishes to leave the group of pirates to whom he has been mistakenly apprenticed. After leaving the pirates Frederic meets a Major-General (Jason Wadsworth) and his daughters, takes a fancy to his youngest daughter Mabel (Sarah Jane Watts), and enlists the Sergeant of Police (Matthew Stokes) and his constables to exterminate the pirates. Chaos ensues! I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of this production, beginning with the lead actors. Smith is incredibly engaging as Frederic and, not only does he have a fantastic voice, but he has great comedic timing. I especially enjoyed his interactions with his nurse Ruth (Charline Grigg) when he tries to find out if she is beautiful when compared with other women. Watts has an amazing voice as Mabel, especially in "Poor wand'ring one," and I loved all of her funny facial expressions. Wadsworth is hilarious in "I am the very model of a modern Major-General" and I liked the funny interludes where he forgets what he is talking about. Monte Garcia, as the Pirate King, also has a very strong voice and great comedic timing, especially when he finds out that the Major-General is an orphan. The pirates, daughters, and constables are excellent and each of them have distinct personalities which make them fun to watch. The costumes are superb!  I loved the steampunk elements in the pirates' costumes, the colorfully quirky dresses worn by the daughters, the elaborate medals worn by the Major-General (even with his nightshirt), and the knee socks worn by the constables.  The set design, which reminded me of a vaudeville stage, is very effective. I particularly liked the two set pieces on either side of the stage which represented action at sea and characters running to and from the Major-General's castle.  Hurrah for this entertaining production which runs until September 1 (go here for tickets and information).

Note:  If you see this show, pay very close attention to the supertitles!

Double Feature at the Drive-In

Sean and I have a summer tradition of going to the drive-in movie.  This year we had Marilyn come with us and we borrowed my Dad's truck on Saturday night.  We piled sleeping bags, blankets, and pillows in the back and we got pizza, drinks, treats, and a big bag of popcorn.  It was so much fun!  We let Sean choose the movies and he picked Mission: Impossible - Fallout and The Darkest Minds.  I really enjoyed seeing Mission: Impossible again and my favorite part was watching Sean because it was his first time seeing it.  When Erica Sloane (Angela Bassett) first appeared on the screen he yelled out, "It's the Mom from Black Panther!"  When Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) came on screen he was even more excited and yelled, "Look!  It's the opera singer from The Greatest Showman!"  By the time the second feature started Marilyn and I were really tired and we tried to convince Sean go home but he really wanted to see The Darkest Minds!  We took one for the team and stayed but I think Marilyn fell asleep at one point!  Sean loved this movie (my review is coming soon) and kept up a running commentary through the whole thing explaining what was going on.  I think I enjoyed people watching just as much as I did watching the movies.  There were some really, shall we say, interesting people around us!

Note:  Sean loved The Darkest Minds so much that he asked me if I could get him the books.  This pretty much made my English teacher heart explode so we went to Barnes & Noble yesterday.  Sean was disappointed that the second book wasn't there so I told him I would order it from Amazon as soon as he finished reading the first one.  As I dropped him off, he told me that I should probably order it soon because he was a fast reader!

The Big Lebowski

Yesterday I had the chance to see The Big Lebowski, the next selection in the TCM Big Screen Classics series, and, in the parlance of our times, it is hilarious!  The Stranger (Sam Elliott) introduces us to The Dude (Jeff Bridges), an unemployed slacker who likes smoking weed, drinking White Russians, and bowling.  He inadvertently becomes involved in a kidnapping gone wrong because he is mistaken for someone else.  Like most films by the Coen brothers, it is populated by characters with exaggerated personalities, quirks, and mannerisms such as the millionaire philanthropist Jeffrey Lebowski (David Hiddleston), his trophy wife Bunny (Tara Reid), his overwrought assistant Brandt (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and his daughter Maude (Julianne Moore), an experimental artist.  We also have the Dude's bowling partners Walter (John Goodman), a Vietnam veteran with anger management issues, Donny (Steve Buscemi) a mild mannered ex-surfer who can't get a word in edgewise, and Jesus Quintana (John Turturro) another over-the-top bowler in the Dude's league.  Add in Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazarra), a director of pornographic films, and a gang of German nihilists (Peter Stormare, Torsten Voges, and Flea), who may or may not be the kidnappers, and you have a film with such an outrageous plot that you can't help but laugh out loud (as everyone did in my screening).  My favorite moments are when Jesus Quintana, wearing a tight purple jumpsuit, dances after bowling a strike, when Walter pulls a gun in the bowling alley, and when the Dude gets thrown out of a taxi after saying he doesn't like the Eagles.  The absurdist comedies of the Coen brothers are hit or miss with me, but this (along with Fargo and Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?) is one of the good ones and should be seen on the big screen (go here for more information).  Am I wrong?

Eighth Grade

Thursday morning I went to see Eighth Grade and, as a former eighth grade teacher, I laughed out loud many times and cringed in my seat at the poignant and realistic portrayal of middle school life.  This movie introduces us to Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher), an awkward teenager trying to navigate her last week of eighth grade.  She creates YouTube videos giving advice about being true to yourself, putting yourself out there, and being brave.  These videos are, ostensibly, for an audience (that doesn't really exist) but they end up inspiring her as she attends a party for one of the most popular girls in school, tries to catch the eye of her crush, and becomes friends with a group of older students.  I absolutely loved this movie because I loved the character of Kayla (as well as Elsie Fisher's portrayal of her).  She is a typical teenager with flaws but she ultimately makes so many good decisions.  She realizes that she doesn't need to be friends with the popular girls (her confrontation with them at graduation made me want to cheer out loud) and she chooses someone who accepts her for who she is.  She realizes that she doesn't need to give in to peer pressure or compromise herself in an incredibly powerful scene where she stands her ground against the sexual advances of an older boy.  She realizes that her negative experiences in middle school do not need to define her because she is a good person and things will get better.  Kayla is a fantastic role model for young girls and the only thing that gives me pause in recommending this for all teens and parents is that it is incredibly realistic with language and sexual situations.  However, this movie could be the catalyst for some great discussions and I definitely suggest checking it out.

Three Identical Strangers

The documentary Three Identical Strangers has been generating a lot of buzz lately so I decided to see it Tuesday afternoon.  It is one of the most thought-provoking documentaries I've ever seen and there was a moment near the end that made me quite emotional.  This true story begins in 1980 when Robert Shafran, at age nineteen, goes to college and is mistaken for Edward Galland.  When the two eventually meet they discover that, not only do they look identical, but they share the same birthday and were both adopted through the same adoption service.  As media coverage about the twins separated at birth intensifies, David Kellman realizes that he is also their brother.  The three brothers immediately bond with each other and become inseparable.  They realize that their lives have very similar parallels and that they have much in common.  They are happy to be together but their adoptive parents are angry and demand answers as to why they were separated without their knowledge.  The adoption agency gives an unsatisfactory answer so they begin digging and find something more sinister than they could have imagined.  They were separated as part of a psychological study but the results were never published or released and all information relating to the study has been sealed.  The narrative leads the audience to make certain conclusions about nature vs. nurture but the brothers come to their own conclusion when tragedy strikes.  I found this conclusion to be very hopeful for families with adopted children and it brought tears to my eyes.  This is an incredibly powerful documentary that I highly recommend!

Note:  This has been a great year for documentaries!  Click the links for my commentaries on Believer, RBG, and Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Blindspotting

One of the most powerful films that I saw at Sundance this year was Blindspotting.  It profoundly affected me and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it so I had to see it again now that it is in wide release.  In an Oakland that is being overrun by hipsters, Collin (Daveed Diggs) is spending the last three days of his year-long probation trying to stay out of trouble.  His hot tempered and impulsive best friend Miles (Rafael Casal), with whom he now has an uneasy relationship, is not making things easy for him by constantly getting into trouble for which Collin is usually blamed (including the incident that landed Collin in prison in the first place).  Collin is tormented after witnessing a white cop shoot and kill a black man running away.  Miles is incensed when a black man accuses him of cultural appropriation. Both characters have intense moments of poignancy.  When I watched this film the first time, my sympathies were all with Collin, especially in a scene where he is followed by a police car while walking home with Miles' gun (that scene really affected me during both screenings) and in a scene with an incredibly powerful monologue as Collin confronts the police officer involved in the shooting.  However, this time I also felt some sympathy for Miles because his whole identity is also called into question by the gentrification of his neighborhood.  I understand now that both characters suffer from "blindspotting," or having people behave towards them according to preconceived stereotypes instead of judging them for who they are.  Both Driggs and Casal, who also wrote the screenplay, give incredible performances that pulled me into their world.  I highly recommend this film for its powerful message abut white privilege, racism, and racial profiling.  It is brilliant!

Oklahoma at Sundance

One of my very favorite summer traditions is seeing a musical at the Sundance Mountain Resort.  I have been going for years and it is always so much fun.  It feels really good to be up in the mountains where it is much cooler than in the valley and I love to smell the pine trees in the outdoor amphitheater.  The musical this year is Oklahoma, presented in conjunction with the Sundance Resort and UVU Theatre Department, and I loved it! It tells the story of the romance between Curley (Jacob Brown) and Laurey (Hannah Pyper Dalley) just as the Oklahoma territory is becoming a state and it has all of the wonderful songs we all remember such as "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'," "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top," "People Will Say We're in Love," and "Oklahoma."  The cast is superb!  Brown is incredibly endearing as Curley and he has a fantastic voice as does Dalley as Laurey.  The two of them have great chemistry, especially in the scene where they get engaged at the box social.  Rachel Bigler is hilarious as Ado Annie and I loved her rendition of "I Cain't Say No" and Thayne Caldwell is a lot of fun as Will Parker with some great rope skills in "Kansas City."  I also really enjoyed Laurie Harrop-Purser's sass as Aunt Eller.  The choreography in the big production numbers is very innovative, particularly in the "Dream Sequence," "The Farmer & the Cowman," and "Oklahoma."  The simple set with wooden platforms that looked like scaffolding on either side of the stage allows for a quick pace without a lot of encumbrances.  The colorful vintage costumes are very appealing, especially the frilly dresses at the box social.  I love the nostalgia I feel when I see one of the old classic musicals and this is one production that I definitely recommend.  It runs at the Sundance Mountain Resort until Aug.11 (go here for more information).

Summer Reading: Lilac Girls

The final selection (how did the summer go by so quickly?) on my summer reading list was Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly. I found this novel to be so compelling that I read almost all night because I just had to know how it ended. The story of Ravensbruck, a concentration camp for women during World War II where medical experiments were conducted on young Polish political prisoners, is told from the perspectives of three very different women. Caroline Ferriday is a New York socialite and former Broadway actress involved in many charities during the war. To mend her broken heart after a doomed love affair with a married man, she turns all of her attention to charity work and, after discovering the "Rabbits of Ravensbruck," she does everything she can to help them. Kasia Kuzmerick is a young Polish girl who is arrested for activities in the Resistance and is sent to Ravensbruck with her sister, mother, and best friend. She feels incredibly responsible for the fate of her loved ones and the anger she feels, as well as the physical disabilities resulting from the horrific experiments in the camp, make it difficult for her to adjust to life after the war. Herta Oberheuser is a trained doctor in Germany but, because she is a woman, she cannot find a position as a surgeon until she is hired at Ravensbruck. Initially, she has qualms about what she is asked to do but then rationalizes that these experiments might be saving lives of German soldiers. The lives of these three women converge to tell a remarkable story about adversity, resilience, and forgiveness. I found Caroline to be a fascinating character and I loved that she used her family's wealth and social position to help those affected by the war (she is a real-life hero of the war). I found Kasia to be a bit unsympathetic, especially in the second act, but I understood her despair and pain and that made her redemption all the more affecting. Herta was a difficult character for me (another real-life person) because she is portrayed very sympathetically at first and I wondered if Kelly was trying to absolve her for her part in the experiments. However, I came to understand her importance in the narrative in the final resolution. This novel, like most about World War II, is sometimes difficult to read but it is so well-written with a compelling story about characters that come to life off of the page. I highly recommend it!

Note:  Have you read Lilac Girls or any of the books on my summer reading list?  What did you think?

The Fremont String Quartet at St. Mary's Church

During the summer the Utah Symphony leaves Abravanel Hall, its more regular home, to perform in other venues, most notably the Deer Valley Mountain Resort and St. Mary's Church in Park City as part of the Deer Valley Music Festival.  I always try to see at least one concert at Deer Valley every summer but I have never been to one of the more intimate concerts at St. Mary's.  In the spirit of trying to fit in as much fun as possible before I have to go back to school, I decided to get a ticket to the final concert of the summer.  St. Mary's is a beautiful church in the mountains and the perfect setting for a symphony concert.  This concert featured the Fremont String Quartet which is composed of the string principals of the Utah Symphony: Madeline Adkins, violin, Claude Halter, violin, Brant Bayless, viola, and Rainer Eudeikis, cello.  They joked that this was their first official performance as a group and, based on their performance last night, it won't be their last!  They played String Quartet No. 2 by Beethoven, Three Pieces for String Quartet by Stravinsky, and String Quartet No. 1 by Brahms and I enjoyed these pieces immensely,  However, my favorite piece of the evening was definitely Fratres for String Quartet by Arvo Part.  I had never heard of this composer before but after tonight I may have to seek out more of his work!  It was contemplative, atmospheric, and just a little bit mournful (it brought a tear to my eye and I was not alone).  I especially loved the cello because it sounded like the tolling of a bell.  It was particularly appropriate in such a beautiful church.  This was a lovely concert and I definitely plan on seeing more concerts in this venue next summer.

Note:  I-80 W (the main freeway from Park City to SLC) was closed after the concert so it was a lot of fun getting home!  I had to go over an hour out of my way but I loved the concert so much it was worth the aggravation!

The Royal Ballet's Swan Lake

Showing live theater, opera, and ballet productions from world-renowned companies, such as the National Theatre, the Bolshoi Ballet, and the Metropolitan Opera, on the big screen has become very popular.  As someone who loves the arts, I have been intrigued by this but I've never had the opportunity to see anything.  When I saw that my favorite ballet, Swan Lake, was going to be screened at a movie theater near me I decided to get a ticket.  It is a brand new production by the Royal Ballet using Tchaikovsky's magnificent score with choreography by Liam Scarlett and sets and costumes by John Macfarlane and it is simply stunning!  In the Prologue, the Princess Odette has been turned into a swan by the evil sorcerer Von Rothbart.  In Act I, Prince Siegfried is celebrating his birthday with his tutor and friends when his mother, the queen, appears and condemns his carefree lifestyle.  She demands that he pick a bride at the ball the following night but he is weary of the responsibilities at court and escapes into the woods to go hunting.  In Act II, Siegfried ends up at a lake and sees a group of swans.  One of them, Odette, turns into a beautiful woman and Siegfried falls in love with her.  Rothbart tries to separate them and she tells Siegfried that she has been cursed and that it will be broken if someone promises to love her.  In Act III, assorted princesses from various lands come to Siegfried's ball and perform for him hoping to become his bride.  Rothbart has disguised his daughter Odile to look like Odette and she beguiles Siegfried into declaring his love to her.  In Act IV, Siegfried finds Odette at the lake and apologizes but the curse cannot be undone.  She chooses to die rather than remain a swan forever.  Siegfried retrieves her lifeless body from the lake in despair.  One change from versions that I have seen that really worked for me was having Rothbart be a member of the court because it gives a bit more motivation for his actions.  A change that I didn’t like as well was having Siegfried survive at the end because I think having him die with Odette is more dramatic.  Marianela Nunez is brilliant in the lead roles.  She is beautiful, graceful, and demure as Odette and sly, seductive, and playful as Odile.  The Pas de Deux with Vadim Muntagirov, a passionate Siegfried, in Act II is hauntingly beautiful as they fall in love and the one in Act IV effectively portrays her heartbreak and his remorse with the choreography.  I loved the set design, especially the opulent palace during Act III.  I felt like I was the Queen sitting in the royal box because the views of the stage were incredible.  I could see every facial expression and that added so much to my enjoyment of the story.  I loved seeing Swan Lake on the big screen and I will definitely be checking out more of these productions in the future.

Note:  I had the chance to see Swan Lake at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia and it was one of the greatest experiences of my life.  This was almost as good!