Close Encounters of the Third Kind

For the second night in a row I got to watch one of my very favorite movies on the big screen again!  I have been fascinated with Close Encounters of the Third Kind since I saw it when it was first released in 1977 as a nine year old.  I have seen it many times since (even on the big screen) but last night was the first time that I got to see the Director's Cut and I loved it!  Claude Lacombe (Francois Truffaut), a French scientist, investigates an increase in UFO activity around the world and discovers a way to communicate with these UFOs by broadcasting a distinctive five-tone musical phrase into outer space.  In response, he receives a set of geographic coordinates that lead to Devil's Tower in Wyoming.  Lacombe and the U.S. military evacuate the area by using a false story about a toxic spill.  Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) and several other people, including Jillian Guiler (Melinda Dillon) and her son Barry (Cary Guffey), also have an encounter with these UFOs and both he and Jillian become increasingly obsessed with the shape of Devil's Tower without knowing what or where it is (you will never look at mashed potatoes in the same way again).  They both make the connection when they see the reports of the toxic spill on television and travel to Devil's Tower for another awe-inspiring encounter with the UFO.  What I love most about this movie is that everyone reacts to the UFOs with wonder and amazement rather that fear and I feel that same sense of wonder every time I watch the mother ship descend into the arena!  It is absolutely magical!  I think the special effects hold up really well, especially in the design of the aliens.  I remember when this was first released the design of the aliens was a really big secret and I was so excited to see what they would look like!  My favorite character in this movie is Lacombe because he also has a feeling of wonder about the UFOs and I love Truffaut's portrayal of him (when I first saw this my Dad had to tell me that he was a famous French New Wave director and I became a little bit obsessed with him).  The more I see this movie the more struck I am by the lengths to which the government goes in order to suppress information about what is happening and, especially right now, I find that scenario entirely plausible.  This movie is both thought-provoking and spellbinding and I highly recommend seeing it on the big screen.  You have one more opportunity to see it as part of the TCM Big Screen Classics series on Oct. 1 (go here for more details).

Note:  I also own Close Encounters of the Third Kind on Blu-ray so I can watch it whenever I want but I just can't resist seeing it on the big screen!

The Empire Strikes Back

I really love The Empire Strikes Back (it is tied with The Last Jedi as my favorite movie in the Star Wars franchise) so, even though I recently saw it on the big screen, I couldn't miss seeing it again now that it is back in theaters for its 40th Anniversary.  I had so much fun last night with a small but appreciative crowd!  After destroying the Death Star, the rebel alliance is on the run from the Galactic Empire.  Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) flees the rebel base to train with the Jedi Master Yoda (Frank Oz) on Dagobah while the Millennium Falcon, with Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) on board, is damaged while evading the Imperial fleet.  Han turns to an old friend named Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee WIlliams) on the planet Bespin for help but Lando betrays the rebels to Darth Vader (James Earl Jones) who uses them as bait to lure Luke to him.  Han is frozen in carbonite and turned over to the bounty hunter Boba Fett (Jeremy Bulloch) but Lando helps Leia and Chewbacca escape while Luke faces Darth Vader in an epic duel.  I love so many things about this movie!  My favorite theme from all of the soundtracks in the Star Wars franchise is "The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme)" and I get goosebumps every time I hear it because I was absolutely terrified of Darth Vader when I saw this movie for the first time.  The action sequences are a lot of fun, especially when Luke takes down an AT-AT walker on the planet Hoth, when Han takes the Millennium Falcon into an asteroid field, and when Yoda raises Luke's X-wing out of a swamp using the Force.  In my opinion, this movie is the most thought-provoking of the original trilogy (I think The Last Jedi is the most thought-provoking of the sequel trilogy) because the stakes are higher for the main characters.  Luke must confront his destiny while Han and Leia must confront their growing feelings for each other and both of these arcs are very powerful and emotionally resonant.  Finally, I sit through the whole movie waiting for my favorite quotes!  I love it when Darth Vader says, "What is thy bidding, my master?" when the Emperor summons him, I laugh when Yoda tells Luke, "Do or do not, there is no try," when Luke attempts to lift his X-wing, and I sigh when Han tells Leia, "I know," after she says she loves him.  This movie is absolutely brilliant and I am still awe-struck every time I watch it.  I highly recommend seeing it while it is theaters again, especially if you are a Star Wars fan!

Note:  I own a Blu-ray copy of every Star Wars movie and I also subscribe to Disney+ so I can watch them any time I want!  However, there is just something about seeing them on the big screen!

Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3

I didn't think that I would be able to attend a Utah Symphony concert this weekend but, when I realized that I would be back in town sooner than I expected, I immediately bought a ticket for last night.  The USUO organization has taken extraordinary measures so audiences can return to Abravanel Hall safely for live music and those measures were in place again last night.  Even though the audience was much smaller than usual, we tried to show our appreciation for a wonderful performance!  The orchestra, which once again consisted of just the strings (along with a harpsichord), began with with Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 by Johann Sebastian Bach.  It is one of Bach's most popular concertos and it was lovely, as usual.  Then the strings performed Transfigured Night by Arnold Schoenberg.  This is a moody and atmospheric piece about two lovers who walk through a moonlit forest.  The beginning is quite dark and mournful as the woman confesses that she is pregnant with another man's child but it becomes joyful as the man forgives her and they are transformed by love.  I had never heard this before and I really enjoyed it.  Just like last week, there were a few more surprises after the program concluded.  The stage emptied and a group of musicians from the woodwind section entered to perform Afro-Cuban Concerto for Woodwind Quintet by Valerie Coleman.  I really liked the rhythm of this piece and I liked that each instrument (bassoon, clarinet, flute, horn, and oboe) was given a moment to shine.  Next, the percussion section took the stage to perform Omnes Trio by Andrea Venet.  This piece was seriously cool and I absolutely loved it!  It was as much fun watching the three musicians playing the various drums, cymbals, and gongs (it was almost as if it was choreographed) as it was listening to them!  The percussion section was joined by the brass to conclude the evening with the world premiere of a piece commissioned by the Utah Symphony called Changes/Transitions by Quinn Mason.  It is a celebration of the progress made for racial equality, the acknowledgement that more work is needed, and the hope that people will continue to bring about necessary change.  This was accompanied by images from peaceful BLM protests around the world and it was very powerful (I was very heartened by the fact that this piece received the loudest applause of the evening).   I loved being back at Abravanel Hall for live music again!

The Devil All the Time

I was kind of on the fence about seeing The Devil All the Time.  I haven't read the book upon which it is based and the trailer didn't really appeal to me but my friend gave it such a good review that I decided to see it last night (I know that it is now streaming on Netflix but I prefer seeing movies on the big screen).  It is a Southern Gothic tale set in the small towns of Knockemstiff, Ohio  and Coal Creek, West Virginia in the 1950s and 1960s.  Willard Russell (Bill Skarsgard), traumatized by an event during World War II, resorts to a blood sacrifice to try and save his dying wife Charlotte (Haley Bennett).  Roy Laferty (Harry Melling) is a fire-and-brimstone preacher who kills his wife Helen (Mia Wasikowska) while in the grip of a religious mania.  Years later their pious daughter Lenora (Eliza Scanlen) falls under the spell of an unscrupulous preacher (Robert Pattinson).  Carl Henderson (Jason Clarke) and his wife Sandy (Riley Keough) lure unsuspecting hitchhikers into the woods to take photos of them as they die.  Sheriff Leo Bodecker (Sebastian Stan) is a corrupt politician on the take from members of a prostitution ring.  All of these characters have a profound impact on Arvin Russell (Tom Holland) as he searches for both revenge and redemption.  Like all of the best Southern Gothic stories, it is very dark and very violent but it is a brilliant commentary on the dangers of religious fanaticism and the abuse of power.  The narrative is nonlinear and it almost seems like a series of vignettes at times but all of the stories eventually converge in several dramatic scenes and I was completely riveted because I had to know what connected all of these characters.  Even though some of the events portrayed are quite grisly, the images on the screen are surprisingly beautiful and serve to emphasize that evil is lurking just below the surface of even the most innocuous of places.  The all-star ensemble cast is fantastic but Pattinson and Holland are especially noteworthy.  Pattinson practically steals the show in a flamboyant performance that is fun to watch even if his actions are reprehensible and Holland delivers his best performance to date as a young man who refuses to let evil go unpunished.  My only complaint would be the extensive voice-over narration, provided by the author Donald Ray Pollock, because it sometimes keeps the characters at a distance.  This will definitely not be for everyone (several people left the theater in my screening) but I think it is extremely powerful and I highly recommend it.

Note:  It is in select theaters for a limited engagement as well as streaming on Netflix.

Infidel

I never saw a trailer for Infidel but when I read that it was based on a true story about a kidnapping in the Middle East I was really intrigued and decided to see it last night.  Doug Rawlins (Jim Caviezel) is a popular Christian blogger who is invited to speak at an interfaith conference in Cairo.  While being interviewed on television, he openly proselytizes which angers many Muslims, including a group from Hezbollah who kidnap him and imprison him in Lebanon.  After Doug secretly contacts his wife Liz (Claudia Karvan), who works for the U.S. State Department, she publicizes his case so he is moved to Iran where is tried on false charges of espionage and sentenced to death.  When the State Department refuses to get involved, Liz travels to Iran on her own in a desperate attempt to rescue her husband.  While there are some really great action sequences, this movie is unnecessarily convoluted because it doesn't know what kind of movie it wants to be.  The filmmakers take great pains to establish Rawlins as a man of faith who is kidnapped for his beliefs but this is, ultimately, a red herring for the real reason for his kidnapping (a subplot briefly introduced and abandoned in the first act and then awkwardly brought back in the third) which turns the movie into a political thriller.  Characters and situations are introduced very haphazardly (the editing is an absolute mess) and it sometimes takes a few minutes to get the gist of what is happening and, more importantly, why it is happening.  Liz is first helped by a small sect of Christians practicing in secret in Tehran but then they disappear from the narrative and the rescue becomes a dramatic operation by a group of underground spies who suddenly appear without explanation.  I can appreciate characters who follow their convictions no matter the cost but Doug is inexplicably bland and passive so I was never really invested in him or his fate.  His Muslim captor Ramzi (Hal Ozsan), on the other hard, is incredibly intriguing and, even though his actions are reprehensible, his motivation is compelling.  His wife Liz (who, it is revealed in several flashback scenes, has lost her faith) is also much more sympathetic, in my opinion, because she will do anything to save her husband.  I'm not even sure what the filmmakers are trying to say about Christianity because the message is so muddled but this would have definitely been a much better movie if they had picked a focus. (For the record, I think they should have stayed with the religious persecution narrative).  Finally, this movie also has many technical issues including the aforementioned editing, bad sound design, problematic cinematography (so many mind-boggling Dutch angles), and clunky dialogue.  Give this a miss!

Note:  After watching this movie I wanted to know more about Doug Rawlins.  It turns out that he isn't real at all but a composite of several people who have been held prisoner in Iran.

Utah Museum of Fine Arts

Yesterday Sean and I made a visit to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.  There are three paintings on loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum that I really wanted to see before they leave on Oct. 4.  I invited Sean to come with me and I was a bit surprised when he enthusiastically agreed.  He is a fan of museums but he usually likes science and natural history ones so I wasn't sure if he would like paintings and sculpture.  He actually really enjoyed looking at the art work and we had a really great time.

Georgia O'Keefe's Manhattan.  This was quite spectacular to see in person because of its scale and vibrant colors.  When you walk into this particular gallery it is the first thing you see and it takes your breath away.

Here is Sean posing in front of it to show its actual size.  

Alma Thomas's Red Sunset, Old Pond Concerto.  Thomas is a lesser-known artist who is starting to be more recognized for her contribution to post-war abstraction.  The brush strokes are meant to mimic how the light hits the ripples in the water.  It was beautiful in its simplicity.

Thomas Moran's Mist in Kanab Canyon, Utah.  This painting was one that helped shape popular perceptions of the American West in the nineteenth century.

Another painting on special loan to the UMFA through a collection-sharing program called Art Bridges is Diego Rivera's La ofrenda.  I am a huge fan of Rivera (I used his paintings when I taught about Mexico in my World Geography classes) so it was thrilling to be able to see this in person.  It will also leave on Oct. 4.

There is a temporary display (through Nov. 8) called Beyond the Divide which features scrolls, screen dividers, sculpture, prints, and Samurai armor and weapons from Edo-period Japan.

These screens are quite spectacular because they are covered in gold leaf.  I found them fascinating.

We also enjoyed wandering through the permanent collections.  Sean was particularly taken with these two paintings by Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun in the European Collection.  I bought him a book about all of the paintings in the UMFA and he immediately looked Le Brun up.  He told me all kinds of facts about her on the drive home (she was the official portrait painter of Marie Antoinette).

He loved this ancient Egyptian coffin for someone named Padiusur in the Ancient Mediterranean Collection.

He also loved this bronze sculpture in the South Asian Collection.

There is plenty to see in the permanent collections at the UMFA but if you would like to see the paintings on loan you need to visit before Oct. 4.  The museum is located on the campus of the University of Utah and is now open Wednesday-Friday from 12:00-5:00pm.  It is highly recommended that you purchase tickets online in advance for a specific time block (that seems to be standard operating procedure for most places due to Covid-19).  You may still purchase tickets at the museum but entrance is not guaranteed because museum capacity is now limited to 100 people.  Tickets are $15.95 for adults and $12.95 for youths (6-18) and seniors.  Children under 6, U of U students, UFMA Members, and active military personnel are free.  Masks must be worn while inside the museum at all times and social distancing is recommended.  Go here for more information.

Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings

Last night I had the chance to get dressed up and go to Abravanel Hall to hear the Utah Symphony for the first time since March!  It was an absolutely incredible experience because I have missed live music so much!  Because of Covid-19 the Utah Symphony has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep everyone safe.  They have changed the scheduled programming (at least until the new year) to feature just the strings so that the musicians can be socially distant on stage and can wear masks while they play.  The concerts have been shortened and do not have an intermission to reduce long lines and congregating in the lobby.  Mobile tickets can now be found on the USUO app and will be scanned in order to be contactless.  Patrons must wear a mask at all times while inside Abravanel Hall and will be asked to confirm that they are not experiencing any Covid-19 symptoms (you can also fill out a questionnaire before the concert and show the usher a text confirmation).  Seating capacity for each concert has been significantly decreased to allow for six feet of distance between households (there were three rows and three seats in between each group of patrons) but a Thursday concert has been added to accommodate as many patrons as possible.  When I found out the program for this weekend's concerts I desperately wanted a ticket!  Obviously those subscribers who already had tickets to these concerts had to be accommodated before tickets could be made available to the general public (I am a subscriber but I didn't have a ticket to this concert) but I was absolutely distraught at the thought of not being able to go!  I kept checking every ticketing platform multiple times every day but I always got a message that tickets were not currently available.  I had basically resigned myself to not being able to go when I randomly checked the app early yesterday morning and found tickets!  I was literally giddy with excitement!  It did feel a little bit weird to be in such a small audience (I wondered what the musicians were feeling) but I also felt so privileged to be the first group to see the Utah Symphony perform after such a long break!  The orchestra began with "Joyful Day" from African Suite for String Orchestra by Fela Sowande, a Nigerian composer.  This piece incorporates African folk music into a European form and I really enjoyed it for its playfulness, exuberance, and optimism.  It was selected to represent the joy of being back at Abravanel Hall once again to experience music!  Next came Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber which is one of my favorites (hence the reason I was so desperate for a ticket).  This piece is incredibly haunting and beautiful and, even though it is somber and melancholy, it is also strangely comforting.  This was the perfect way to heal after all of the suffering and disruption we have been through and it brought tears to my eyes.  The program concluded with Serenade for Strings by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.  I love Tchaikovsky (I love all of the Russian composers) and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this piece.  I kept imagining couples whirling around at a ball at the Winter Palace as I listened!  After the program Thierry Fischer told us that he had a few more little "presents" for us and had the orchestra play three more pieces including I Crisantemi by Giaccomo Puccini, "Akinla" from African Suite for String Orchestra by Fela Sowande, and "Hoedown" from Rodeo by Aaron Copeland.  Finally, the entire orchestra performed a piece commissioned from Augusta Reed Thomas called Fanfare of Hope and Solidarity featuring musicians who had recorded their parts at home (or "magic" as Fischer referred to the video presentation).  If you have missed live music as much as I have, I highly recommend getting a ticket for one of the concerts featuring the same program on Friday or Saturday.  I am guessing that some tickets will be made available on the day of each show (keep checking here).

The Secrets We Keep

As soon as I saw the trailer for The Secrets We Keep I immediately wanted to see it because I have a fascination with movies involving World War II intrigue.  I saw it last night and, unfortunately, it was a bit disappointing.  Maja (Noomi Rapace), a Romanian woman living in a small suburban town in the U.S., is attempting to rebuild her life after World War II with her American husband Lewis (Chris Messina) and her young son Patrick (Jackson Vincent).  While at a park with her son, she hears a distinctive whistle which triggers a flashback to the war when she and her sister were brutally raped and her sister was killed by Nazis.  She follows the man who whistled home and, when she sees his face, she is convinced that he is the man who tortured her and contrives to kidnap him.  She intends to kill him but can't bring herself to do it so she ties him up in her basement.  Lewis, who knows nothing about his wife's past, is horrified when he hears her story and discovers what she has done but ultimately becomes her accomplice.  The man (Joel Kinnaman) professes to be a Swiss citizen who spent the war as a clerk in Zurich but Lewis doesn't know what to believe because some aspects of the man's story check out and his wife has a history of unstable behavior.  It is a tense, if sometimes improbable (the scene where the sheriff investigates the missing person's report and is oblivious to a myriad of clues in their living room had me shaking my head), psychological thriller focused on the secrets between more than one husband and wife with a stellar performance by Rapace and an atmospheric 1950s vibe created with credible production design and costumes.  However, I found the morally ambiguous ending to be very anticlimactic and totally unsatisfying and that ruined the whole narrative for me.  This movie will be released as a VOD on October 16 so I would definitely recommend waiting to see it then.

Airplane!

I am a huge fan of the TCM Big Screen Classics movie series and I was particularly excited about the selections slated for this year.  Many of the screenings had to be canceled because of Covid-19 but I am happy to report that a lot of them have been rescheduled now that movie theaters are opening up again so I was able to see Airplane! last night!  I remember watching this hilarious spoof of disaster movies on my little black and white TV late at night when I was in high school but it was so much more fun to see it on the big screen.  On a flight from Los Angeles to Chicago, which is carrying a little girl (Jill Whelan) who needs a heart transplant, the pilot Captain Oveur (Peter Graves), the Co-Pilot Roger Murdock (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), the Navigator Victor Basta (Frank Ashmore), and several of the passengers all become incapacitated with food poisoning.  It is all up to Ted Striker (Robert Hays), a pilot suffering from PTSD after the war, to save them with the help Elaine Dickinson (Julie Hagerty), a stewardess who is trying to break up with Striker, Dr. Rumack (Leslie Nelson), an unflappable physician on board, Steve McCroskey (Lloyd Bridges), a hard-boiled air traffic control supervisor, and Captain Rex Kramer (Robert Stack), a pilot who flew with Striker in the war.  This movie is filled with slapstick comedy (slapstick comedy is based on physical humor such as pratfalls and mild violence but that isn't important right now), off-color jokes, and naughty sexual innuendos and, even though contemporary audiences might find some of it offensive, I laughed out loud multiple times and I was not alone!  I started laughing during a reference to Jaws in the opening scene and didn't stop until the end-credits scene where a man is still waiting in a cab driven by Striker at the beginning of the movie.  Almost everyone was laughing and quoting their favorite lines ("What's the vector, Victor?") as they walked out of the theater so it was definitely a lot of fun!  Unfortunately, last night was the final screening of Airplane! but there are lots of great movies in the series coming soon to a theater near you (go here for more information).  I am especially looking forward to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Psycho, and The Shining.

The Pull of the Stars

This month's Barnes & Noble Book Club selection was The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue and it could not have been a more timely pick. It is set in Dublin in 1918 when a world war still raged on and people were dying by the thousands of the Spanish flu. Julia Power is a nurse at a very understaffed hospital and is, therefore, put in charge of a small three bed ward for pregnant women who are quarantined with the flu. It is the first time that she has been given any authority and comes to rely on her own instincts, rather than the rigid rules, as she does her best to help her patients who come from all walks of life. She is given an assistant, a volunteer named Bridie Sweeney, who is very young and knows nothing about nursing but is a fast learner and a hard worker. Bridie takes great pride in knowing that she is useful for the first time in her life. Because of the shortage of doctors in the hospital, Dr. Kathleen Lynn (a real-life character), a woman suspected of participating in the Easter Rising of 1916, is brought in to help and becomes a mentor to Julia in the field of medicine and in the development of her social conscience. The three women have a profound effect upon each other as they struggle to keep the patients alive and bring new life into a world gone mad. The novel takes place over three consecutive days in the small confines of a ward that is essentially a converted supply closet and the claustrophobia really adds to the sense of urgency. Every action has a dramatic consequence so it is very intense to read and the medical practices of the time are quite primitive by modern standards so it is extremely gory.  However, in the midst of all of the trauma and heartbreak, there is definitely a sense of hope at the end of the novel which readers who are going through a similar global pandemic are sure to appreciate. I was really struck by the similarities between 1918 and now including the canceling of all major events, the supply shortages, the spreading of misinformation, the backlash against taking simple precautions such as wearing masks, the desperation to find a cure, and the willingness of health care professionals to do the impossible to save people. I was also struck by the fact that people started to become more aware of social injustice as a result of how the flu spread and that seems to be echoed by events today (I, for one, really hope that this leads to change as it did back then). Donoghue spoke about this during the virtual Q&A held last night which I found to be fascinating. I also enjoyed her discussion of the title which comes from influenza delle stelle (the influence of the stars).  People believed that the illness was caused by fate but all three of the main characters take matters into their own hands to change fate and I loved that! Donoghue also addressed my one criticism of the novel which is that there are no quotation marks to denote dialogue (a trend I despise in the publishing world). Her explanation was that she wanted the reader to be inside Julia's head with little distinction between what she is thinking and what she is saying which is valid given the chaos of what was happening in the ward. Ultimately, I loved the character development in this novel as well as the highly relevant subject matter and I would definitely recommend it!

Note:  Next month's Barnes & Noble Book Club selection is Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi. Once again this selection was announced earlier than usual so I am already almost finished with it because it is so captivating! There will be another virtual discussion with the author via Facebook on October 6.  Go here for more information.

Words on Bathroom Walls

I have a soft spot for adaptations based on YA literature (although I have not read the book upon which Words on Bathroom Walls is based) and I am becoming more and more impressed with Charlie Plummer (go here and here) so I decided to see this movie last night.  Adam Petrizelli (Plummer) is a high school senior who begins hearing voices and having hallucinations in the form of Rebecca (AnnaSophia Robb), Joaquin (Devon Bostick), and The Bodyguard (Lobo Sebastian).  After a psychotic break in his chemistry class which injures his friend, he is diagnosed with schizophrenia and expelled from school.  He is eventually accepted in a trial for a new medication but is hesitant to take it because he doesn't know what the side effects will be.  He begins attending a Catholic school where no one knows him and decides to take the medication to be more normal so he doesn't end up like the people who are written about on the bathroom wall.  He meets Maya Arnez (Taylor Russell) and hides his condition from her because he really likes her and doesn't want to lose her. When he decides to stop taking the medication because he doesn't like the side effects, it becomes harder and harder to hide his condition.  After another psychotic break while at the prom with Maya he must decide if he will be defined by his illness.  I liked the dynamic between Adam and Maya because she also has a secret that she is keeping from him and they both must become vulnerable enough to share their secrets with each other to be happy.  The ending is a little bit cheesy but it does have a really great message about having the courage to be yourself.  I also really appreciated that the story goes beyond the typical teenage romantic comedy to explore the realities of mental illness and I found it to be very affecting, especially a scene where Adam talks about how kids with cancer get their wishes fulfilled while kids with mental illness get hidden away.  Plummer gives a highly nuanced and sympathetic performance that very cleverly puts the audience inside the head of someone with schizophrenia.  The rest of the cast is also excellent including Russell who is absolutely luminous as Maya and has great chemistry with Plummer, Molly Parker who is compelling as a mother willing to do anything to save her son, and Andy Garcia who is charming as a supportive priest.  This is a poignant coming of age story that shines a light on a little known mental illness that I highly recommend!

Mulan

I was really disappointed when I found out that Mulan was going to stream on Disney+ for a premium fee rather than have a theatrical release.  My problem was not with the $29.99 fee because, in my opinion, Disney can charge whatever they want for something they created and it’s up to people to decide whether or not they want to pay to see it.  Rather, my objection was based on the fact that a movie that looked so visually stunning in previews wouldn't be seen the way it was meant to be seen which is definitely on the big screen.  I really hope this doesn't become the model for future releases.  Now that I have seen it I am even more disappointed that I didn't get to experience it on an IMAX screen because it is absolutely amazing!  I loved it and I think it might be my favorite Disney live-action remake because it takes broad strokes from the original animated classic but turns the story into something that feels new and different with a more dramatic tone and weightier themes.  When one man from every family is conscripted to the Imperial Army to fight against the invader Bori Khan (Jason Scott Lee), Hua Mulan (Liu Yifei) feels it is her duty to take the place of her ailing father (Tzi Ma) and disguises herself as a man to train under Commander Tung (Donnie Yen).  She has been told her whole life to hide her powerful life force, or "chi," to avoid bringing dishonor to her family but she eventually learns that the only way to save her country and her Emperor (Jet Li) is to be true to herself.  What a great message!  I loved the introduction of the character Xianniang (Gong Li), an ally of Bori Khan who is considered to be a witch because of her powerful chi, as a foil to Mulan because they both struggle to find their place in a world where they do not fit in but they follow different paths.  The resolution between the two of them is one of the most powerful scenes in the movie.  I also really like the fact that the romance between Mulan and Chen Honghui (Yosun An), another recruit, is downplayed so that he is more of an ally who stands up for her when her identity is discovered.  This is another very powerful scene (although my sister wanted more romance).  As I mentioned previously, the tone of this movie is much more dramatic so some of the lighthearted humor, especially the fish-out-of-water jokes when Mulan is forced to room with the other male recruits, falls a little flat but this is a minor criticism.  The scale of this movie is epic and the action sequences are absolutely spectacular with elaborately choreographed sword fights and gravity-defying aerials.  The costumes and sets are gorgeous to look at and, while the songs from the original are missing, the score pays homage to them and provides the necessary emotional reference, especially bits and pieces of "Reflection."  I really enjoyed this movie, and I highly recommend it, but I think I would have enjoyed it more in the theater!

Bryce Canyon National Park

Since I drove through Zion National Park on the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway I decided to keep going on Highway 89 to Bryce Canyon.  I didn't really do anything in the park but drive to all of the viewpoints (you can drive right up to some of the viewpoints and some of them require a little bit of walking) but the views are spectacular!  Sometimes I would hear people audibly gasp when they would get up to the view (especially at Natural Bridge).  You can see why!

I was able to see three (Capitol Reef, Zion, and Bryce Canyon) of Utah's "Mighty Five" National Parks in two days!  Now I have made a goal to see the other two (Canyonlands and Arches) but I think I will wait until after Labor Day when it might be less crowded.

Note:  I have an America the Beautiful Pass which gets me admission to all of the national parks for a year.  It is $80.00 and it has already more than paid for itself!

Zion National Park

I've only been to six national parks (I hope to add to that list now that I am retired) but my favorite is definitely Zion!  I have been there dozens of times and the scenery never fails to take my breath away!  There is just something so otherworldly about the red rock formations and I feel an almost mystical connection.  Since Zion is only two and half hours away from my KOA in Fillmore I decided to get up early again last Wednesday and go!  I am so glad I did because the park wasn't very busy and it made me so happy to be there!

Due to Covid-19, you will need to buy a ticket in advance to ride the shuttle into Zion Canyon (to see the Emerald Pools, West Rim Trails, the Riverside Walk, and the Narrows) through December 2020.  I just drove along the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway through the park which provides lots of views and access to several hikes.