Last night I had so much fun watching the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark on the big screen at Abravanel Hall as the Utah Symphony performed the score by John Williams live! I love this movie concert series that the Utah Symphony has started (go here and here) so much because listening to the music played live makes the movie so much more entertaining. I may or may not have cheered out loud when we heard the iconic fanfare for the first time as Indiana Jones runs through the jungle. It has been a really long time since I've seen this movie about an adventurous archaeologist and his quest to locate the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis do. I was my nephew's age when this first came out and it is really the first big epic adventure that I remember watching in the theater. It felt just as exciting to me last night as it did then. I'm starting to respect Steven Spielberg more and more because, just like with Close Encounters of the Third Kind, I think the special effects in this movie hold up incredibly well. There are so many scenes that I loved such as when Indiana shoots a man who dramatically brandishes a sword at him, when he fights one of the Nazis near the propeller of a plane, when he crawls underneath a moving truck, when he is trapped in a tomb full of snakes (this gave me nightmares when I was a kid), and when the Ark burns the faces off of the Nazis. I also thought it was really clever to use a red line across a map to indicate a long journey and I liked the use of shadows (that fedora is instantly recognizable). It is such a great movie and the orchestra played the music magnificently under the baton of guest conductor Constantine Kitsopoulos. It was a really fun way to begin the weekend. The next movie in this series is The Nightmare Before Christmas in October and tickets may be purchased here.
Saturday, September 9, 2017
Friday, September 8, 2017
Forever Plaid at HCT
Hale Centre Theatre has two shows running simultaneously: The Heart of Robin Hood is currently playing at the West Valley Theatre and Forever Plaid is playing in the Sorenson Jewel Box Theatre at the new Mountain America Center for the Performing Arts in Sandy. I have been eagerly anticipating this first show in the new theatre and I wasn't disappointed. First of all, the theatre is absolutely amazing! The Jewel Box Theatre is a more traditional proscenium theatre (the main theatre opens in November with a production of Aida) and I am happy to report that there is leg room! Hallelujah! Second, the show is simply delightful in every way! Forever Plaid is essentially a juke box musical featuring a doo-wop group from the early sixties. While traveling to their very first gig at the Airport Hilton they crash into a bus of parochial school girls on their way to the Ed Sullivan Show to see the Beatles and are killed. They are given the chance to come back and perform the show they never got to in life. It is full of wonderful songs from the 1950s (my Dad would love this show) such as "Three Coins in the Fountain," "Moments to Remember," "No, Not Much," "Heart and Soul," "Shangri-La," "Rags to Riches," and "Love is a Many Splendored Thing." My favorite numbers were "Sixteen Tons" which was hilarious and "Lady of Spain" because they recreated all of the famous acts from the Ed Sullivan Show (I laughed and laughed when they pretended to be seals balancing beach balls). Keith McKay Evans (Frankie), Ricky Parkinson (Smudge), Jonathan Rex Baker (Sparky) and Will Perkins (Jinx) harmonize beautifully together. The choreography is a lot of fun, especially when they use plungers as microphones. In between the musical numbers, there is a lot of funny banter which emphasizes each of the characters' quirks such as Sparky's speech impediment, Jinx's propensity for bloody noses, Frankie's nervousness in front of a crowd, and Smudge's ulcer. I loved the minimal set design which included a piano (played by Tanner DeHaan) and a bass (played by Kelly DeHaan). This show is so much fun and I highly recommend that you see it (instead of The Heart of Robin Hood).
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
The Heart of Robin Hood at HCT
Monday, September 4, 2017
Tulip Fever
I really love period dramas and, despite everything I had heard, I still thought I might like Tulip Fever so I went to see it last night. It looked absolutely beautiful in the previews and it has a stellar cast so how bad could it be? It is pretty bad. Set in 17th Century Amsterdam, Sophia (Alicia Vikander) is an orphan essentially sold to Cornelis Sandvoort (Christoph Waltz), a wealthy merchant, because he is desperate for an heir. She fails to produce said heir but he treats her kindly. He hires Jan Van Loos (Dane DeHaan), a struggling artist, to paint their portrait and of course he falls in love with Sophia and they begin an affair. In an attempt to be with Sophia, Jan begins speculating in the tulip market, where fortunes can be won and lost in an instant, with the help of the Mother Abbess (Judi Dench) who raised Sophia. Maria (Holliday Grainger), Sophia's maid, is in love with a fishmonger named Willem (Jack O'Connell) who also speculates in the tulip market but when his fortune is stolen by an unscrupulous prostitute (Cara Delivigne) he is conscripted into the navy. Sophia and Maria's stories converge in a ridiculous plot twist and the ending is anything but satisfying. This movie is beautiful with gorgeous period costumes and lighting straight out of a Vermeer painting. However, there are so many things wrong. The story is convoluted but, even worse, it is also totally implausible, especially one plot element that defies common sense. I didn't understand any of the characters' motivations. Christoph Waltz usually plays such a good villain but in this movie his character is almost benign so I didn't understand Sophia's desperation to escape from Cornelis. Sophia and Jan barely speak five words to each other before they are in bed together so I didn't really buy their relationship. I also didn't understand Sophia's choice at the end of the movie. What a letdown after everything the characters have been through! The tone of this movie is also quite strange. It is supposed to be a tense and compelling drama but there are some odd comedic elements, especially regarding a "little soldier" in some of the strangest sex scenes I've ever seen. I also found the scenes where the tulips are bought and sold, which should be fraught with tension because of the consequences for the characters, to be incredibly boring. It was a bit disappointing and I recommend giving it a miss.
Sunday, September 3, 2017
Braves!
It was a hot one yesterday but we couldn't miss seeing Sean and the rest of the Bountiful Braves play the Alta Hawks! I saw a lot of improvement in the Braves this week but this game ended much like the one they played last week. The Hawks scored four unanswered touchdowns and then at the end of the game the Braves got a dramatic touchdown to spoil the shutout. I'm really proud of Sean because this week he didn't let his frustrations get the better of him and he didn't give up!
They'll get the next game!
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