Frankenstein

I love the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (it, along with Hamlet, was one of my favorite pieces of literature to teach) so the new adaptation by Guillermo del Toro was one of my most anticipated movies this year.  I went to see it with my nephew, and a huge crowd, at the Broadway last night and I loved it!  I loved everything about it!  Baron Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) encounters a mysterious Creature (Jacob Elordi) after taking refuge on a ship, under the command of Captain Anderson (Lars Mikkelsen), that is trapped in ice whilst on an expedition to the North Pole.  When Frankenstein hears that Anderson is willing to continue to the North Pole no matter the cost to his crew, he fears that he shares his same madness and recounts his story to him as a cautionary tale.  He tells of his obsession to overcome death after his beloved mother died in childbirth, his expulsion from the Royal College of Surgeons for experimenting on corpses, his patronage from Heinrich Harlander (Christoph Waltz) which funds his experiments in an abandoned water tower, his unrequited love for Harlander's niece Elizabeth (Mia Goth) who is also engaged to his brother William (Felix Kammerer), his success in reanimating a corpse created from the bodies of soldiers killed in the Crimean War, his disappointment with the Creature's seeming lack of intelligence, and his attempt to kill the Creature by setting the tower on fire.  The Creature then describes his mistreatment at the hands of Frankenstein who sees him as a monster, his bond with Elizabeth who sees his purity of heart, his escape from the fire at the tower, his terror at being lost and alone in the woods, his interactions with a blind man (David Bradley) who befriends him and teaches him to speak and read, his search for answers about his creation, and then his search for the creator who doomed him to a life of isolation.  After Frankenstein and his Creature have a final reckoning, Anderson decides to abandon his reckless pursuit and return home.  I am usually a purist when it comes to adaptations of literature but I think the changes from the novel add to the narrative rather than detract from it and I especially loved the more sympathetic depiction of the Creature.  I was impressed by the performances from Isaac, as a man consumed by his obsession, and Goth, as the moral compass of the story, but I was absolutely blown away by Elordi.  I loved his physicality as a being with an imposing stature but the development of a newborn as well as his soulful portrayal of innocence, melancholy, and rage.  I also really enjoyed all of the Gothic elements in the production design (the visuals are gorgeous and I particularly loved the use of fallen angels as a motif) and the Baroque-inspired score by Alexandre Desplat (one of my favorite movie composers).  I've always loved the story but I found this adaptation to be incredibly moving and I highly recommend it (I'm sure it will be among my favorite movies of the year).  It will be available to stream on Netflix beginning November 7 and I cannot wait to watch it again.

The Mastermind

The next movie in the double feature with my nephew at the Broadway last night was The Mastermind.  I am a fan of Kelly Reichardt's brooding and contemplative character studies and I think the protagonist of this movie might be her most intriguing one yet.  James Blaine "J.B." Mooney (Josh O'Connor) is an unemployed former art student who is supported by his wife Terri (Alana Haim) and his wealthy, but disapproving, parents Sarah (Hope Davis) and William (Bill Camp) in the suburban town of Framingham, Massachusetts where his father serves as the local judge.  It is 1970 and the Vietnam War continues on but J.B. is seemingly unaffected by it and the attendant protests all around him (there are many references to both in the background of the action).  He meticulously plans a robbery in broad daylight of four paintings by Arthur Dove from the local art museum with Guy Hickey (Eli Gelb), Larry Duffy (Cole Doman), and Ronnie Gibson (Javion Allen) and, even though the heist is initially successful, everything that can go wrong does go wrong and J.B. is ill-equipped to deal with the fallout.  He ends up on the run where help is either not forthcoming, from his art school friends Fred and Maude (John Magaro and Gaby Hoffman, respectively) or his long-suffering wife, or not available until he is finally held accountable for his actions for maybe the first time in his life.  This is definitely more character-driven than plot-driven because the action in the second half is incredibly slow, almost maddeningly so, with lots of static shots of J.B. trying to figure out what to do which seem to go on much longer than necessary.  How J.B. responds is much more important that what he responds to and this is ultimately very effective but I admit that I got a bit fidgety.  However, I found the narrative to be very thought-provoking because, in my opinion, J.B. is a symbol for an America that lost its way prosecuting a war it could not win.  I also loved the 1970s aesthetic in the production design, costumes, and cinematography, the Jazz-inspired score, and the understated performance from O'Connor (he excels at playing rumpled anti-heroes).  I recommend this to fans of Reichardt but others might find it boring.

Note:  The first movie in our double feature appealed specifically to me and this one appealed specifically to my nephew!

Blue Moon

Last night my nephew and I had another double feature at the Broadway (they are becoming a regular occurrence for us).  We started with Blue Moon and, even though I really liked it, I can definitely see why others might not.  Before Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott) worked with Oscar Hammerstein II (Simon Delaney), he had a successful 24-year partnership with Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke) before the latter's self-destructive behavior forced a split.  During the opening night performance of Oklahoma!, the first collaboration between Rodgers and Hammerstein, Hart slips away to Sardi's restaurant to commiserate with Eddie (Bobby Cannavale) the bartender and Morty (Jonah Lees) the piano player.  He is openly critical of Oklahoma! (my favorite comment is that it will be performed by high schools until the end of time because it is so inoffensive) but he knows that it will be a bigger hit than any of his shows with Rodgers so he can barely bring himself to congratulate him when he arrives for the afterparty.  When Hart proposes a new project for the two of them to work on, Rodgers remains skeptical about his depression and alcoholism.  His spirits are momentarily lifted at the arrival of Elizabeth Weiland (Margaret Qualley), his 20-year-old protege, because he has unrequited feelings for her and is hoping to impress her with his connections to the Broadway world.  When she abandons him to attend another party with Rodgers, it is a confirmation of both his personal and professional failings but he hides his heartbreak and continues regaling Eddie and Morty with yet another story.  This features a lot of dialogue (Broadway fans will find many fun references) and takes place in one location in real time (almost like a chamber play) so it is very slow but I found it surprisingly compelling because of Hawke's brilliant and transformative performance as the talented but tormented songwriter.  You can always see the pain behind the bravado (although it is distracting to see the balding wig that he wears) and I was impressed by his physicality as a man who is embarrassed by his short stature.  Scott is also outstanding (he won the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance at the Berlin Film Festival), especially in a highly charged scene where Rodgers expresses both his gratitude for and frustration with Hart.  Qualley does a great job but she sometimes feels very out of place, in my opinion, because she is so anachronistic in this time period.  As a fan of Broadway musicals, I really enjoyed this but I don't think the stellar performances will be enough to make this appealing for those who do not share a similar interest.

Nuremberg

Last night my nephew and I were able to attend an early screening of Nuremberg which included a livestreamed Q&A with Russell Crowe and the director James Vanderbilt.  It is very compelling and, unfortunately, very timely.  After the surrender of Hermann Goring (Crowe), the Allies disagree over how to bring him and the other captured Nazi leaders to justice.  The Soviets propose a show trial with a predetermined outcome while the British advocate for summary executions.  U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson (Michael Shannon) wants to punish them but he also wants to show the world irrefutable evidence of what the Nazis did so he proposes a public military tribunal conducted by the Americans, British, French, and Soviets in Nuremberg, the site of many Nazi rallies.  Dr. Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek), a military psychiatrist, is brought to the prison to determine if the defendants are competent to stand trial and he engages in a thrilling battle of wits with Goring.  However, as Kelley spends more and more time with Goring, his opinion of him becomes increasingly sympathetic, especially after he delivers letters to Goring's wife Emmy (Lotte Verbeek) and daughter Edda (Fleur Bremmer), until the true nature of what occurred in the concentration camps is revealed during the trial.  This prompts him to disclose privileged information to Jackson to help him incriminate Goring on the stand.  This movie is riveting and my attention never wavered during the entire two and a half hour runtime.  There are several moments that I found to be incredibly powerful, including a scene when a translator played by Leo Woodall tries to convince Kelley to help Jackson by saying that the atrocities committed by the Nazis happened because people stood by and did nothing and a scene when Kelley is promoting his book about the trials and says that what happened in Nazi Germany will happen again because people abandon their humanity in the pursuit of power, and I think this is definitely a movie that everyone should see right now.  The supporting cast is outstanding, particularly Woodall (as Sgt. Howie Triest) who gives the aforementioned emotional monologue about being an advocate for the Jews who died, John Slattery (as Col. Burton Andrus) who provides a bit of levity as the no-nonsense commandant of the prison, and Richard E. Grant (as the British prosecutor Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe) who has a stand-up-and-cheer moment during the trial.  Malek, Crowe, and Shannon give brilliant performances (I think it is the best of Malek's career) and their interactions are explosive, especially when Jackson reminds Kelley of the importance of what they are doing in the ruins of the Nazi parade grounds, when Kelley confronts Goring about the concentration camps, and when Jackson interrogates Goring on the stand.  Crowe mentioned in the Q&A that they were able to film the trial scene in one day because he and Shannon are from Krypton (an amusing reference to their characters from Man of Steel).  I loved the verisimilitude in the production design (most notably the accuracy in the recreation of the courtroom), because it allows for the seamless integration of real footage (the film showing the actual liberation of the camps is incredibly harrowing to watch), and in the costumes (Goring is known for wearing light blue uniforms of his own design).  This is a thrilling and entertaining movie but it is also an important one and I highly recommend it.

Maroon 5 at the Delta Center

I randomly heard the song "Harder to Breathe" on the radio in my car late at night more than twenty years ago and I loved it but I didn't hear the name or the artist.  As hard as it is to believe in 2025, I had a really hard time finding out this information because none of my friends or students had heard it (kids today will never know the pain of listening to the radio for hours just to hear a particular song).  When I eventually figured it out, I bought Maroon 5's debut album Songs About Jane and listened to it incessantly (the CD survived the massive purge I did before moving into my current house).  I was so obsessed with the song and album that I went to see a band I didn't especially like (Matchbox Twenty) just because Maroon 5 was opening for them.  I've been a huge fan ever since and have seen them headline several times (go here and here).  I was absolutely thrilled when they announced a tour in support of their latest album, Love Is Like, and I had so much fun at the concert last night.  Midway through the show Adam Levine thanked the audience for supporting them for so long and mentioned that the concert with Matchbox Twenty was the first time they performed in SLC.  Almost all of the people sitting around me had been there!  They sang "California" from the new album but they mostly played the hits which made the crowd very happy!  They began the show with "Harder to Breathe," which made me very happy, and also played "She Will Be Loved," "Sunday Morning," and "This Love" from Songs About Jane.  Other highlights included "Lucky Strike," "Animals," "One More Night," "Misery," "Won't Go Home Without You," "Maps," "Love Somebody," "Don't Wanna Know," and "Girls Like You."  These songs brought back so many memories and I remembered the words to every one even though I hadn't heard them for a long time!  They performed a very heartfelt rendition of "Memories," which they dedicated to their agent Jordan Feldstein who died in 2017, and included photos submitted by the audience of people they wished to remember on their giant screen.  They concluded their main set with a rousing rendition of "Moves Like Jagger" and then performed "Payphone" and "Sugar" for the encore.  Levine, who spent most of the night strutting down the long runway into the crowd, sounded great (he can still hit those high notes) and he was incredibly energetic and engaging!  It is always great to see a band who evokes a specific time in your life (I felt like that girl singing "Harder to Breathe" in her car at the top of her lungs once again) and I loved every minute!