A Star Is Born

It seems like I've been anticipating A Star Is Born for such a long time and I finally had the opportunity to see a Thursday preview last night.  Wow!  Bradley Cooper plays Jackson Maine, an alcoholic and drug-addicted rock star who clearly has many inner demons.  Strung out after a gig, he has his driver find a bar where he can continue getting wasted but, instead, he finds Ally (Lady Gaga), a young singer/songwriter who is so insecure about her looks that she pretends to perform in drag.  He is captivated by her and, after she sings him one of her original songs, he pulls her on stage to perform it with him.  She eventually joins him on tour and gets noticed by a record producer who offers her a contract.  Conflict arises as Ally becomes successful and Jack's addictions become more severe.  I saw the Barbra Streisand/Kris Kristofferson version so long ago that, while I knew the basic premise of the story, I didn't remember many of the details so I was completely blown away by my emotional response to the tragic love story.  Bradley Cooper is hit or miss with me but his performance is incredible and so affecting, especially in a scene where Jackson breaks down and apologizes to Ally.  I've always respected Lady Gaga as a gifted musician despite her rather outlandish stage persona and she, as expected, gives a tour de force performance while on stage but she is also very believable in the role of a singer who doubts herself.  The chemistry between Cooper and Gaga is palpable and I really cared about their relationship.  I also really enjoyed seeing Anthony Ramos as Ally's friend Ramon.  Cooper wrote many of the songs with Lukas Nelson, the lead singer of Promise of the Real (the band appears in the movie as Jackson's band), and he sings and plays the guitar live on screen as well which really impressed me!  I was also impressed by Cooper's direction (it is his directorial debut) because he gives such an intimate portrait of two flawed characters.  I loved this movie!  It is definitely one of my favorite movies of the year and I highly recommend it!

Note:  I have seen Promise of the Real in concert and I really like their sound so I loved the music (I downloaded the album before the credits finished).

Ragtime at CPT

Last night my Mom and I went to see my niece Tashena perform in the ensemble in Ragtime at CenterPoint Legacy Theatre. Of course I thought she was amazing! I really like this musical and seeing Tashena perform made it even more memorable. Ragtime tells the story of America at the turn of the 20th Century. Mother (Annie Ferrin) is the matriarch of an upper-class family living in the suburb of New Rochelle. Everything changes when Father (Dan Frederickson) leaves on a voyage to the North Pole forcing her to make decisions for the first time in her life. Tateh (Shelby Ferrin) is an Eastern European Jew who brings his daughter to America for a better life. Coalhouse Walker, Jr. (Timothy Drisdom) is a Harlem piano player looking for justice after the death of his fiance Sarah (Olivia Lusk).  Their stories converge along with those of the most notable figures of the day: the illusionist Harry Houdini (Nick Morris), a showgirl named Evelyn Nesbitt (Janessa Zech) who gets caught up in the Crime of the Century, the African-American leader Booker T. Washington (Everett Spencer), the financier J.P. Morgan (Rob Severinson), the inventor of the Model-T Henry Ford (Brett Sloan), and the anarchist Emma Goldman (Katelyn Johnson). Through it all ragtime music is used as a metaphor for the changes taking place in American life before World War I and it is a compelling story filled with wonderful songs. My favorite songs in this show have always been "Sarah Brown Eyes" and "Back to Before" and they were performed beautifully last night but "Till We Reach That Day" was especially beautiful and very affecting. I also really loved "Gettin' Ready Rag" because the choreography is spectacular and my niece can really dance!  It was so much fun for my Mom and I to watch her in that number! This is a big and complicated show so I really appreciated the understated sets, which mimicked industrial iron girders, as they could be configured and reconfigured very quickly. I was especially struck by the iron gate which held the immigrants back as they entered America from Ellis Island in "A Shtetl in Amereke" because it is very dramatic.  The entire cast is outstanding but Drisdom as Coalhouse and Ferrin as Mother are particularly strong. I highly recommend this show (and not just because my niece is in it) which runs until Oct. 27.  You can purchase tickets here (if you want to see my niece, she is in the T H S cast).

Fall Camping Trip

Since I had Friday off as compensation for parent teacher conferences earlier in the week, I decided to take a trip down south to my very favorite KOA.  This little camping trip was very much needed and it was so relaxing!

I always love coming to the Fillmore KOA because it is far enough from home so I feel like I've gone somewhere and close enough to get there in less than two hours.  The facility is outstanding and the people who run it are some of the nicest people you will ever meet!

I stayed in this cabin Friday and Saturday nights.  It was in a very secluded area and I really enjoyed the solitude.

I spent most of my time sitting on the porch of the cabin reading.  Having time to read without distractions is pretty much my idea of heaven!  I loved listening to the breeze blow through the trees!  In the evening I settled into my cabin and watched movies!

On Saturday night I built a fire and sat next to it until it got really dark.  It was so relaxing!

This little camping trip was exactly what I needed!

Note:  This trip was the first item to be crossed off my fall bucket list!

Fall Bucket List

Fall is my very favorite season and I am determined to enjoy it to the fullest this year!  Here is a list of things I want to do during the month of October!

• Go on a fall camping trip.  I can already cross this off my list because I am currently sitting on the porch of my KOA cabin.
• Go on a fall drive.  Go here for five of my favorite fall drives near SLC.
• Make a fruit cobbler in a dutch oven.  I haven't done this for a really long time and I'm thinking that it needs to happen this year.
• Go to a corn maze.  Sean might think he's too cool to go with me this year.
• Carve a Jack-O-Lantern.  Marilyn and I do this with Sean and Tashena every year except the year we procrastinated buying pumpkins until the day of Halloween and then couldn't find them anywhere.
• Watch the movie Young Frankenstein with donuts and apple cider.  This has been a tradition ever since I moved out on my own and I look forward to it every year.
• Watch a horror movie in the theater.  I'm thinking of seeing the new Halloween movie.
• Eat a caramel apple.  This was the number one thing I wanted to do after I got my braces off!
• Eat chili in a pumpkin bread bowl. My Mom has made chili on Halloween since I was a little girl.  It is one of my favorite traditions.
• Attend ODT's Thriller.  I have been attending this Halloween dance extravaganza for the past 20 years.  It just wouldn't be Halloween without it!
• Make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.  We'll see if this actually happens!

There you have it!  I'm so excited for all of it!  Do you have any fall traditions?

Waitress at the Eccles

A few years ago my friend Esther and I went on a quick theatre trip to NYC.  I chose to see the revival of She Loves Me and Esther picked Waitress.  I wasn't really that keen on seeing Waitress but I am so glad that Esther picked it because I ended up loving it!  The original Broadway cast, especially Jessie Meuller, was outstanding and the song "She Used To Be Mine" brought me to tears!  Needless to say I was really excited for the chance to see it again at the Eccles Theatre last night and I loved it just as much as the Broadway production.  It tells the story of how Jenna (Desi Oakley, in her final performance in the role) uses baking to cope with her dead-end job as a waitress in a diner and her unhappy marriage to an abusive husband (Nick Bailey).  When she learns that she is pregnant, and then begins an affair with her gynecologist (Bryan Fenkart), she expresses her hopes, dreams, fears, and frustrations through the names of the pies she bakes each morning for the diner: Deep Shit Blueberry Pie, Berry the Bullshit Pie, A Little Wild Wild Berry Pie, In the Dark Chocolate Pie, etc.  Whenever she is overwhelmed everything freezes and she tells the audience the ingredients for her latest pie, always beginning with "Sugar, Butter, Flour."  In the end, the ingredient she needs is courage!  The songs, written by Sara Bareilles, are fabulous and I especially like "What's Inside," "Opening Up," and "It Only Takes a Taste" because, while they are about baking, they are also metaphors for life!  So clever!  My favorite song is, of course, "She Used To Be Mine" and Oakley performed it with so much passion that I had tears once again!  While I did cry, I also laughed and laughed in many parts of the show, particularly "Never Ever Getting Rid of Me" and "Bad Idea" because the choreography is absolutely hilarious!   It is also really fun to see the live band playing in the diner and to watch the cast actually make the pies on stage!  I really enjoyed watching this show again and I highly recommend it!  Waitress runs at the Eccles Theatre until Sunday and tickets may be purchased here.

Rebel Without a Cause

I have never seen Rebel Without a Cause, the ultimate movie about teenage angst, so I was really excited when I found out that it was part of the TCM Big Screen Classics series this year.  I had the chance to see it yesterday and I'm glad I can finally cross this classic off my list.  This movie is about three teenagers who are alienated from their families and are getting into trouble as a reaction to their discontent.  Jim Stark (James Dean) lives in a home with an overbearing mother (Ann Doran) who emasculates his father (Jim Backus).  Jim is embarrassed by his father and gets into fights to prove that he is not a chicken.  Judy (Natalie Wood) hangs out with the wrong crowd in order to get her father's (William Hopper) attention.  John "Plato" Crawford (Sal Mineo) longs for a connection with someone because he has an absent father and a disinterested mother.  After Jim participates in a drag race that results in the death of a gang member, the rest of the gang goes after him because they think he has ratted them out to the police.  Jim, Judy, and Plato hide out in an abandoned mansion (which was also used in Sunset Boulevard) until the gang finds them leading to an epic showdown at the Observatory.  I understand that this movie was groundbreaking in its portrayal of adolescent unhappiness but, to me, it seems extremely melodramatic.  There was even a moment early on when Jim tells his parents that they are tearing him apart when I laughed because it reminded me of the same line in the movie The Room.  Everyone ridicules Tommy Wiseau for his delivery of that line but I didn't see a difference between his delivery and Dean's.  However, I did enjoy Dean's performance in this movie much more than his performance in Giant because I found him to be incredibly appealing.  My favorite scene was the field trip to the Observatory because the presentation about the destruction of the Earth profoundly foreshadows the characters' feelings of hopelessness (it also reminded me of the Observatory scenes in La La Land).  I'm glad I had the chance to see it on the big screen!

Oslo at PTC

I made several different plans to see Oslo, the Tony Award winning play opening the 2018-2019 season at PTC, but they all fell through for one reason or another.  I finally had the chance to see it last night with my friend (we both have rush passes) and I thought it was absolutely brilliant.  I wish that I had time to see it again.  It tells the behind-the-scenes story of how the Oslo Accords, the first ever agreement between Israel and the PLO in 1993, came to be.  Terje Rod-Larsen (Jeff Talbott), the Executive Director of the Fafo Institute, and his wife Mona Juul (Kate Middleton), an official in the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, witness a riot while traveling through the Gaza Strip in Israel.  Terje is forever changed by the incident and, believing that the current model of negotiation will never work, decides to get low-level representatives from the PLO, Ahmed Qurie (Demosthenes Chrysan) and Hassan Asfour (Thamer Jendoubi), and Israel, Yair Hirschfeld (Neal Benari) and Ron Pundak (Max Woertendyke), to meet in secret in Oslo.  He believes that if they get to know each other as men they will learn to trust each other and this provides a bit of comic relief.  The story details the back and forth between the two groups as they work towards peace and it does involve lots of dialogue rather than action.  As a former world geography teacher I pay close attention to world events, especially in the Middle East, so it was really easy for me to follow what was happening but my friend found it very compelling, as well.  The pacing kept me engaged (although I thought it was over before the second intermission) and the actors give outstanding performances.  I also really liked the staging, which is minimal to allow for quick transformations.  I highly recommend this production which runs through next week (tickets may be purchased here).

Ode to Joy

If you were not at Abravanel Hall last night you definitely missed out on a magnificent performance!  The orchestra began with a new piece by Andrew Norman, Composer-in-Association with the Utah Symphony, called Suspend.  The composer was there to introduce the piece which was commissioned by pianist Emanuel Ax.  He explained that he wanted the piece to represent the freedom that comes from solitude and that theme really resonated with me because I crave solitude.  Soloist Jason Hardink began by softly playing notes, seemingly at random, and then continued in an almost improvisational manner.  Different sections of the orchestra gradually joined in as the piece escaped from the pianist's mind to become a composition.  The piece ended as it began with the just the pianist, alone once again, playing a few random notes.  I was fascinated by the percussion section because they used bows on different percussion instruments instead of mallets (I'm sure there is a proper term for this) and the effect was quite otherworldly.  I really loved it.  After the intermission the orchestra was joined by the Utah Symphony Chorus, the Choirs of the University of Utah, and soloists Joelle Harvey, Kirsten Chavez, Issachah Savage, and Patrick Carfizzi for Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 "Ode to Joy."  This piece is simply amazing and it was performed brilliantly!  I loved the timpani in the first movement, the jaunty theme played by the woodwinds in the second movement, and the beautiful melody played by the strings in the third movement.  Then the stirring and life-affirming fourth movement just blew me away.  The instantly recognizable theme began softly with the cellos and then it was repeated, in turn, by different sections of the orchestra and, finally, by the soloists and the choirs.  I was absolutely overcome!  During the thunderous standing ovation the little old lady next to me turned and said, "I don't think you have really lived if you haven't heard that played live!"  I agree wholeheartedly and suggest you get a ticket (go here) to hear it when it is performed again tonight!

The Scarlet Pimpernel at HCT

I have seen two of HCT's three productions of The Scarlet Pimpernel and they are among my very favorite shows at Hale or anywhere else! I think I squealed out loud when I learned that they were mounting a new production this season and I have been eagerly anticipating it for months to see what they could do in their new space. I was not disappointed because it is even bigger and better than ever! I have always loved the novel by Baroness Orczy (one of my students is reading it and we discuss it every day) and the music by Frank Wildhorn adds a dazzling romance to the thrilling story.  Percy Blakeney (Daniel Beck) has disguised himself as the Scarlet Pimpernel and has recruited a band of followers in order to save the people of Paris from the sinister Chauvelin (Dallyn Vail Bayles) and his guillotine during the French Revolution. He keeps his identity a secret from his wife Marguerite St. Just (Erin Royall Carlson), a Parisian actress, because he believes that she is helping Chauvelin, her former lover.  He is also keeping his identity secret from the Prince of Wales (Jeffrey Whitlock) by pretending to be a foppish nincompoop. However, he must make his most daring rescue when Marguerite and her brother Armand (Nathan Kremin) are arrested. What I loved most about Hale's former productions was the carousel during Marguerite's performance of "Storybook" at the Comedie Francaise. With a bigger stage and more toys at his disposal, set designer Kacey Udy outdid himself with the carousel in this show because it is amazing. I heard an audible gasp from the audience as it rose from below the stage. The 23-foot guillotine is another impressive set piece. I also really liked Percy's study and the rose garden. The costumes are absolutely gorgeous throughout the entire show but my favorites were those worn by the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel during "The Creation of Man."  They take "frou frou" to new levels. I really enjoyed the choreography, especially the intricate "Ouilles Gavotte" where Marguerite questions the men to try to learn the identity of the Pimpernel. The three leads are outstanding and it is incredibly powerful when the three of them sing "The Riddle." Beck, especially, does a good job at portraying Percy's strength as the Pimpernel, his vulnerability as a man who loves but can't trust his wife, and his silliness as a man trying to hide his identity. He is so funny in his interactions with Chauvelin and I laughed out loud every time he mispronounced his name! I cannot recommend this show enough (go here for more information) but you better hurry because most shows are sold out making tickets even more elusive than the Pimpernel!

The Predator

The first time I saw Predator my parents were out for the evening and I was watching it in the basement family room with my two younger sisters.  We were so scared!  We thought there was an alien in our house so we barricaded ourselves downstairs until my parents got home.  To this day it remains one of the most frightening movies I've ever seen!  I've not seen any of the other movies in the franchise but my Dad has and he loves them.  When he heard about The Predator he asked me to take him to see it.  We've been planning this outing for at least a month and finally got to go last night.  The filmmakers took one of the scariest movies ever and turned it into an action/adventure thriller.  This is not necessarily a bad thing because my Dad and I had so much fun watching it (which was not what I was expecting at all).  Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook), a covert operative, and all of his team are on a hostage retrieval mission when an alien ship crash lands.  His entire team is killed but McKenna is able to stun the predator and takes its helmet and armor as proof of what happened before the army comes in and takes charge.  Before he is captured and found incompetent, he mails the alien technology home where his son Rory (Jacob Tremblay) finds it and activates it.  Soon another alien ship comes to Earth to retrieve the stolen technology.  Hunting both predators are an evolutionary biologist (Olivia Munn), McKenna and a group of ragtag government prisoners (who contribute much comic relief), and some government agents.  Of course there is an epic showdown and the possibility of another sequel.  The story is a bit of a convoluted mess but it hardly matters.  I found Holbrook to be an appealing action hero and I really enjoyed the action sequences which were thrilling rather than scary.  The best sequences were when the entire team was hunting one of the predators in the woods (it reminded me of the first movie).  I thought the prisoners recruited by McKenna were funny (for the most part) but I eventually found the constant profanity and crude humor to be tiresome after a while.  It is entertaining and I had a lot of fun watching it with my Dad who called it an awesome B-movie.

The Wife

I have been eagerly anticipating the release of The Wife since I saw the trailer a few weeks ago and I had the opportunity to see it yesterday afternoon.  I found it to be very compelling.  Joseph Castleman (Jonathan Pryce) has just been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.  He and his wife Joan (Glenn Close) travel to Stockholm for the award ceremony where he is showered with adulation while she holds his coat, hands him his reading glasses, reminds him to take his pills, and overlooks his flirting with a beautiful photographer.  As the events surrounding the presentation ceremony transpire over a few days, Joan begins to reflect on her role of supporting wife with flashbacks to her days as an aspiring writer at Smith College and conversations with Castelman's would-be biographer (Christian Slater).  Glenn Close gives an absolutely brilliant performance, one of the best of her career.  Joan is quietly self-contained until thirty years of being taken for granted become unbearable during Castleman's acceptance speech.  This scene is amazing because it is like watching a gathering storm and, when she lets loose, it is a category 5 hurricane.  She shares some positively explosive scenes with Pryce and it is heartbreaking when she realizes how much she loves him.  I did feel that the flashback scenes to the characters' younger selves (Annie Starke and Harry Lloyd) are poorly executed and completely unnecessary as they take away the momentum of the story being told in Stockholm.  Also, the narrative is a very slow exploration of the disintegration of a tumultuous marriage without a lot of action so it might not be for everyone.  However, Close elevates this fairly ordinary movie into something extraordinary and I highly recommend it for her performance.

Note:  In many ways this film reminds me of 45 Years.

White Boy Rick

I was on the fence about seeing White Boy Rick but I didn't have any plans last night so I decided to check it out.  I ended up liking this cautionary tale based on a true story much more than I thought I would.  As a fifteen year old, Rick Wershe Jr. (Richie Merritt) can see that his life is going nowhere.  He lives in an economically depressed Detroit in the 1980s with a gun running father (Matthew McConaughey) who has big plans for opening a video store which never come to fruition and a sister (Bel Powley) who is a junkie.  He has dropped out of school and runs with one of the many black gangs who rule the city where he acquires the nickname "White Boy Rick."  Two FBI agents (Jennifer Jason Leigh and Rory Cochrane) blackmail him into becoming an informant by threatening to arrest his father for selling guns that were involved in a crime.  They have Rick do controlled buys of crack cocaine to build cases against the dealers.  He eventually sends the members of his former gang to prison and gets shot in the stomach for his trouble.  When his girlfriend has a baby and his sister almost overdoses, he decides that selling crack for himself will be the best way to help his family.  This leads to his arrest, a betrayal by the FBI, and a mandatory life sentence at the age of 17.  The brilliant performances are what makes this movie better than I expected.  Merritt, in his first ever role, is incredibly sympathetic as a teenager bereft of hope and he gives Rick a certain vulnerability along with the swagger.  McConaughey is charismatic (and a little bit sleazy) as a father who means well but can't do anything to improve his family's situation.  Powley is riveting as a strung out junkie and the scene where she is found in a flophouse is absolutely visceral.  I also really enjoyed the 1980s verisimilitude, especially the scenes at the roller rink.  My problem with this movie is that it is sometimes really unfocused and confusing with a lot of vignettes that don't add up to a cohesive whole.  I was left with a lot of unanswered questions which prompted an online search for information that should have been included.  I'm glad that I saw it, though, and I recommend it for the touching family drama and the great performances.

Note:  It goes without saying that a movie like this is full of violence and profanity, although I didn't find it to be gratuitous.

Bernstein on Broadway

Last night, in honor of Leonard Bernstein's 100th birthday, the Utah Symphony performed a concert featuring the music of Bernstein with guest conductor Teddy Abrams and Broadway star Morgan James.  Bernstein's music is so evocative and exuberant and James has such a powerful voice that she seemed capable of blowing the roof off Abravanel Hall so, as you can imagine, this concert was absolutely wonderful.  The orchestra began with the Overture to West Side Story and then James gave a lovely performance of "Tonight" from the same show.  She continued with several selections from On the Town including "I Can Cook Too," "Some Other Time," and "Ain't Got No Tears Left" while the orchestra played "Times Square 1944" which was a lot of fun.  Then she sang "A Simple Song" from Bernstein's Mass which I really loved.  After the intermission, the orchestra played the Overture to Bernstein's operetta Candide (the orchestra will play this in its entirety in November).  James, then, sang several songs from Peter Pan, a piece I was unfamiliar with, including "Dream with Me" and "My House" which were lovely.  The concert concluded with a rousing rendition of "Glitter and Be Gay" from Candide which brought the audience to its feet!  For the encore, she performed an incredible version of "Somewhere" from West Side Story.  I enjoyed this performance so much!  My favorite moment was when James sang "Some Other Time" because it was so plaintive and nostalgic.  If you are a fan of Leonard Bernstein I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here) to this concert which will be performed again tonight!

A Simple Favor

Last night I went to a Thursday preview of A Simple Favor and I thoroughly enjoyed this dark comedy.  Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) is a single mom living in a Connecticut suburb.  She is extremely lonely and tries to be the perfect mom (complete with a vlog giving parenting tips, recipes, and crafts for other moms) to mask her pain.  When her son wants a play date with another boy at his school, she meets Emily Nelson (Blake Lively), a wealthy, glamorous, and enigmatic woman with a high profile job in the city.  They bond over secrets and martinis but Stephanie thinks that their friendship is genuine while Emily sees it as a way to get free child care.  When Emily does not pick up her son from a play date, Stephanie begins looking for her missing friend and uncovers more than she bargained for.  She also begins a relationship with Emily's husband Sean (Henry Golding) which further complicates matters.  What makes this movie so much fun to watch is that you never know who is duping whom until the final resolution.  All three of these characters have secrets, which are revealed little by little, and the plot twists are completely twisted!  I loved both Lively and Kendrick in their roles (these characters must have been so much fun to play) and the dialogue during their martini-fueled afternoons is a definite highlight.  Rupert Friend is absolutely hilarious as Dennis Nylon, the designer Emily works for, and Jean Smart is fabulous as Emily's alcoholic mother.  This movie is so stylish with incredible sets, production design, and costumes (especially all of Lively's tailored suits).  I had so much fun watching this wildly entertaining movie and I highly recommend it!

The Nun

I really have no idea what possessed me (ha ha) to see The Nun last night!  I haven't seen any of the other movies in The Conjuring universe and it is rare that I can be genuinely scared by a horror movie so I usually avoid them.  However, the trailer for The Nun looked promising and, now that I have seen it, I have to say that I was initially really freaked out by the disturbing image of a demonic nun.  After a young nun commits suicide in an abbey in a remote area in Romania, the Vatican sends Father Burke (Demian Bichir), a priest tormented by an exorcism performed on a young boy during World War II that went horribly wrong, to investigate.  Because the abbey is cloistered, the Vatican also sends Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga), a novitiate who sees visions, to help him gain access.  As they are haunted by a demonic presence that appears in the guise of a nun, they discover that the abbey was once a castle built in the Middle Ages and that the Duke who built it used Satanic rituals to open a portal to Hell within its walls.  Crusaders used the blood of Christ to close the portal and consecrated the castle for use as an abbey.  The portal was opened once again when it was bombed during World War II and the nuns must keep a constant vigil of prayer to contain the evil.  Father Burke, Sister Irene, and a local farmer (Jonas Bloquet) must face an ultimate showdown with the evil nun to close to portal once again.  The beginning of this movie is incredibly atmospheric with a castle shrouded in mist, long creepy halls lit only by lanterns or candles, nuns who appear and disappear, and deep and disturbing chanting.  There is such a sense of foreboding that I was really on edge and, like I mentioned, I found the nun to be a terrifying figure, at least initially.  As the movie progressed, however, the presence of the nun became less and less scary because you see nuns on the screen so often.  You never really know if it is the demonic nun or just one of the nuns in the abbey.  The final resolution seems to go on forever and, eventually, I found it to be a bit tedious.  The plot becomes more and more convoluted and the character development hinted at in the exposition ends up going nowhere.  This movie begins with so much promise but, by the end, I was just wishing that it would end.

Peppermint

Last night I went to see the movie Peppermint and, despite some negative reviews, I thought it was actually pretty decent.  Riley North (Jennifer Garner) sees her husband and daughter gunned down by members of a drug cartel.  Despite the fact that she witnesses the crime and identifies the three gunmen, they are released with the help of a corrupt lawyer and judge.  With no legal recourse, Riley then embezzles a large sum of money from the bank she used to work for and disappears for five years to acquire the skills needed to take matters into her own hands.  When she returns, she kills the three gunmen, the lawyer, and the judge, then sets her sights on the entire drug cartel and, in the process, becomes a sort of hero to the downtrodden.  It is a very standard revenge thriller with some cringe-worthy dialogue, stereotypical villains, a plot twist that I saw coming very early on, and some awkward camera work but I found it to be strangely satisfying.  Jennifer Garner is both heartbreaking as a woman who has lost her family and kick-ass as a vigilante out for justice and I enjoyed her performance.  There are some great action sequences that got my adrenaline pumping (it is, however, incredibly violent) and I don't know what this says about me as a person but there was a part of me that wanted to cheer at the final resolution between Riley and the leader of the drug cartel.  I also found the ending to be very intriguing.  If you are a fan of movies like Death Wish and The Equalizer, you may enjoy this.

Note:  I’m not sure why this movie is called Peppermint...

The Sound of Music

I have seen The Sound of Music countless times but, when I found out that it would be screened as part of the TCM Big Screen Classics series, I just had to see it!  I simply couldn't resist the chance to see such an iconic musical on the big screen!  Oh, how I love this movie!  I love every single thing about it and I waited with great anticipation for every one of those wonderful Rogers and Hammerstein songs:  "The Sound of Music," "Maria," "I Have Confidence," "Sixteen Going on Seventeen," "My Favorite Things," "Do-Re-Mi," The Lonely Goatherd," "Edelweiss," "So Long, Farewell," "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," and "Something Good."  Every single song is so instantly recognizable and I really had to try not to sing aloud (some people at my screening actually did sing along!).  I love the "Do-Re-Mi" scenes and the wedding scene because they remind me of a trip I took to Salzburg (I actually sang "Do-Re-Mi" when I visited the Mirabell gardens) but my very favorite scene is when Maria and Captain von Trapp dance the Landler because it is so romantic!  I think Christopher Plummer is so handsome in that scene.  I had a smile on my face the whole time and I'm so glad I took advantage of seeing it as it was meant to be seen!  If you love his movie as much as I do, you have another opportuity to see it on Wednesday (go here for information and tickets).

Note:  I love this movie so much that it was disconcerting for me to see the Broadway touring company production because it is so different!

Jurassic Park in Concert

I absolutely love the Utah Symphony's Films in Concert series and, as many of you know, I also love seeing outdoor performances.  So, as you can imagine, last night's concert featuring a screening of Jurassic Park with John Williams' iconic score played by the Utah Symphony at the Usana Amphitheatre was just about the best way to spend a late summer evening.  Out of the entire franchise I've always thought that the original film by Steven Spielberg is the best and seeing it again on the big screen confirmed my opinion.  John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) brings dinosaurs to life once again by using dinosaur DNA from the blood of prehistoric mosquitoes trapped in amber and builds a theme park in which to display them.  When one of his employees is killed, his investors bring Dr. Grant (Sam Neill), a paleontologist, Dr. Sattler (Laura Dern), a paleobiologist, and Dr. Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), a chaos theorist, to the park to assess the safety measures.  He also invites his grandchildren Lex (Ariana Richards) and Tim (Joseph Mazzello) to visit.  Of course the dinosaurs escape their enclosures and wreak havoc on the guests of the park.  For me this movie has always been about the dinosaurs (I think the characters are a bit underdeveloped) and they are amazing!  The special effects have definitely held up over time.  My very favorite scene is when Grant, Sattler, and Malcolm see the dinosaurs for the first time because there is such a sense of wonder on their faces and I think the orchestral theme played here does a lot to convey that awe and wonder.  Hearing it live gave me goosebumps!  I also liked the music during the scenes where the dinosaurs attack because it adds to the sense of urgency.  I loved this concert so much and I'm really looking forward to the rest of the Films in Concert series this season, especially Star Wars: A New Hope and Casablanca.

Maroon 5 at the Vivint Arena

When I learned that Maroon 5 would be returning to SLC this fall, I had a stern talk with myself and decided that I probably didn’t need to see them again.  However, as the date of the concert approached, I felt really sad that I wouldn’t be there.  I love Maroon 5 and they always put on such a great show so, in a fit of madness, I got a ticket!  Best decision ever!  Aside from some parking issues downtown, it was a fantastic night.  Their 90 minute set included some songs from their latest album, Red Pill Blues, including "What Lovers Do," "Cold," "Don't Wanna Know," and "Wait."  They also performed a fun cover of Michael Jackson's "Rock With You" complete with a gigantic disco ball.  But most of the night was devoted to the hits and they played them one after the other to the delight of the crowd.  These included "Payphone," "This Love," "Misery," "Sunday Morning," "Animals," "One More Night," "Love Somebody," and "Moves Like Jagger."  My favorite moment came midway through the show when they played "Harder to Breathe."  I became a huge fan of Maroon 5 the very first time I heard this song on the radio so hearing it live is always amazing!  For the encore they played "Girls Like You," from the new album, with a cool intro and outro of "Forever Young" by Alphaville.  Then they played acoustic versions of "Lost Stars" and "She Will Be Loved" which were incredible!  They ended the show with a rousing rendition of "Sugar."  I always love Maroon 5 concerts because Adam Levine is such a showman!  With a guitar strung on his back and frequently dragging a microphone stand, he would strut along the V-shaped runway into the audience like he owned the Vivint Arena!  It was an incredibly high energy performance and I was very impressed with how great he sounds live!  I loved this concert and I am so glad that I caved in and bought a ticket!

Note:  The best part is that I didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn for school the next day!