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!