The Philadelphia Story

While I have seen a production of the play upon which the film is based, I had never seen The Philadelphia Story until it was screened yesterday as part of the TCM Big Screen Classics series.  I'm not sure why I had never seen it before because Cary Grant is one of my very favorite actors and who doesn't love Jimmy Stewart and Katharine Hepburn?  I absolutely loved this lively drawing room comedy!  Socialite Tracy Lord (Hepburn) is about to marry George Kitterage (John Howard), a respectable if boring self-made man.  On the eve of her wedding her ne'er-do-well ex-husband Dexter Haven (Grant) shows up with a reporter, Macauley "Mike" Connor (Stewart), and photographer, Liz Imbrie (Ruth Hussey), to disrupt the proceedings.  Tracy eventually finds herself torn between Dexter, Mike, and George but first she must figure out who she is before she can figure out who she should marry!  Grant, Hepburn, and Stewart are so well-suited for their roles and give wonderful and engaging performances but, in my opinion, Virginia Weidler steals the show as Tracy's teenage sister Dinah, especially during the scene when she is showing off for Mike and Liz.  The beautiful interiors and elegant costumes are perfect for a fun bit of escapism.  The script is incredibly intelligent, sophisticated, and witty, filled with one-liners delivered at lightening speed.  I'm not a huge fan of romantic comedies but there were many times when I laughed out loud, as did many people in my screening.  In my opinion this film is just about perfect and I am so glad that I was able to see it on the big screen!

High Noon in Concert

I can't tell you how much I have been enjoying Utah Symphony's Films in Concert Series.  To see a film on the big screen while the Utah Symphony plays the score live is an incredible sensory experience.  Last night I got to see High Noon while the orchestra played Dimitri Tiomkin's Academy Award winning score.  I recently saw this film on the big screen and the only part of the score I really remembered is the ballad "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin'" which is repeated several times.  However, the music is very powerful, as is the film itself!  Convicted killer Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald) is on the noon train to Hadleyville with a score to settle with Will Kane (Gary Cooper), the Marshal responsible for convicting him.  The problem is that Kane has recently married Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly), a Quaker who abhors violence, and is on his way out of town when he hears the news of Frank's arrival.  He decides to return, against Amy's wishes, and tries to recruit deputies to stand with him to no avail.  He must face Miller and three members of his gang alone at high noon.  As I mentioned, the music is incredibly powerful, particularly the themes played when Kane fights his former Deputy Harvey Pell (Lloyd Bridges) who is bitter at not being promoted to Marshal in a barn, when Amy kills a member of the gang (the audience cheered and applauded at this moment), and during the final confrontation between Kane and Miller.  I also really liked the chimes as the hands on the clock reach noon (the action happens in real time). These concerts have become my favorite thing to do because they combine two of my favorite things: film and the Utah Symphony! High Noon is such an iconic film so I thoroughly enjoyed this concert!

Note:  I am so glad that the Utah Symphony is continuing this series!  I have tickets to see Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl this summer and the films for next season were recently announced:  Ghostbusters, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Casablanca, Star Wars: A New Hope, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  I am so excited for all of them!  Go here for more information.

Ballet West's Cinderella

Last night I had the opportunity to see Ballet West's beautiful production of Cinderella and I absolutely loved it! Featuring sumptuous costumes and sets and a marvelous score by Sergei Prokofiev, this ballet tells the well-known story of Cinderella (albeit with a few differences from the Disney version) with choreography by Sir Frederick Ashton. The stepsisters are portrayed, rather hilariously, by men (Adrian Fry and Christopher Sellers) and the scenes of them getting ready for the ball had me laughing out loud! I also really enjoyed the scene where Cinderella (Beckanne Sisk) dances with a broom as a partner. The Fairy Godmother (Katlyn Addison, one of my favorite dancers) has four fairies representing the different seasons give Cinderella gifts before transforming her into a princess complete with a gilded carriage made from a pumpkin. The ball scenes are delightful with more antics from the stepsisters and I was so impressed by the athleticism of the Jester (Joshua Whitehead). I have to admit that Cinderella's entrance to the ball was absolutely magical and gave me goosebumps. The Grand Pas de Deux between Cinderella and the Prince (Chase O'Connell) is incredibly romantic and very moving with intricate choreography that is dazzling to watch. I thought the giant clock looming over the stage was very effective and the scene of Cinderella leaving the ball is quite dramatic. The final scene is lovely with glitter falling as Cinderella and the Prince dance off stage. The whole production is thoroughly entertaining and I think it is the prefect ballet for children because, while it is definitely a classical ballet, there are so many comedic elements, especially involving the stepsisters, and the story is a familiar one. Cinderella runs at Capitol Theatre through February 25 and tickets may be purchased here.

Black Panther

Last night, after a very challenging week, I had the chance to see a Thursday preview of the latest entry in the MCU franchise, Black Panther, and it was so much fun!  There was not an empty seat in the giant IMAX theater and the crowd was boisterous, to say the least!  More importantly, this movie is absolutely awesome!  After the death of his father, T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returns to Wakanda, an advanced African nation due to plentiful supplies of an alien metal called vibranium, to become king.  He also gains superhuman abilities by ingesting an herb filled with the vibranium.  Soon after, there is a challenger to the throne who wants to use vibranium-enhanced weapons to fight oppression around the world.  In my opinion, Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) is the best Marvel villain to date because, while he is absolutely ruthless, he is not entirely unsympathetic.  After an epic battle with Black Panther there is a moment of incredible pathos between the two characters that is so refreshing to see in a superhero movie.  While it is most definitely an origin story, I found it to be very compelling with complex character development not just for T'Challa but for all of the characters.  I especially liked Shuri (Letitia Wright), T'Challa's younger sister who is almost like Q in the James Bond movies because she creates all of the amazing gadgets for him to use.  The world building in this movie is spectacular!  Wakanda is a futuristic country and the visual effects are absolutely dazzling!  The action sequences are a lot of fun and I particularly loved the car chase through the streets of Busan because one of the cars is driven by remote control and a battle involving armored rhinos!  Boseman is so charismatic in the lead role but everyone in the all-star cast (Lupita Nyong'o, Daniel Kaluuya, Angela Bassett, and Forest Whitaker) is outstanding. Andy Serkis gives an over the top performance as a South African arms dealer trying to sell weapons enhanced with vibranium and Martin Freeman has a fun role as a CIA agent.  I loved this movie and I highly recommend it!  In fact, it might just be my favorite superhero movie yet because it is as thought-provoking as it is fun to watch!  Marvel has certainly set the bar very high for the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War!

The Hunchback of Notre Dame at HCT

I have been anticipating HCT's production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame since the 2018 season was announced and I finally had the opportunity to see it last night! It is amazing and you should probably stop reading right now and go here for tickets because they are going fast (with good reason). I loved just about everything in this show! Victor Hugo's classic tale about outcasts who find sanctuary in a Gothic cathedral is full of so much pathos!  Quasimodo (James Bounous) has been hidden by his master Frollo (Josh Richardson) in the bell tower of Notre Dame Cathedral all of his life because he is deformed until he decides to walk the streets of Paris during the Feast of Fools.  When the crowd turns on him, he is rescued by the gypsy Esmeralda (Rebecca Burroughs).  She also catches the eye of the captain of the cathedral guard Phoebus de Martin (Preston Yates) who falls in love with her and she bewitches Frollo who becomes obsessed with possessing her. When Esmeralda rejects Frollo, he orders Phoebus to arrest her but when he refuses they both become fugitives who are aided by Quasimodo until the final confrontation in the bell tower. The music by Menken and Schwartz is so amazing!  I liked every single song but my favorites were "God Help the Outcasts," "Top of the World," "Heaven's Light," "Someday," and "Made of Stone." All of the lead actors have beautiful voices but I think my favorite characters were the gargoyles (Jacob Theo Squire, Brock Dalgleish, and Kaitlyn Dahl) who act as a sort of Greek Chorus. The set for this show is absolutely incredible! I loved the many different levels of the bell tower and it was so cool to see Quasimodo ring the bells! I also really loved the stained glass windows shown on the LED screens throughout the theater.  This, along with frequent Latin chants, adds so much to the Gothic feel of the story. This show is much darker than the usual Disney musical so some might not like it as much as I did but I think the theme of being an outcast is an important one and I think the redemption at the end of the show is incredibly powerful. I highly recommend this show (I may need to see it again!).

The Death Cure

Yesterday I went to see Maze Runner: The Death Cure, the final installment of movies based on the popular YA novels by James Dashner.  Thomas (Dylan O'Brien), Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Frypan (Dexter Darden), and Brenda (Rosa Salazar) must infiltrate W.C.K.D.'s headquarters in the heavily fortified "Last City" to save Minho (Ki Hong Lee) and the rest of the immune subjects from the torture they are undergoing to develop a cure for the Flare.  Thomas must reconcile his feelings for Teresa (Kaya Scodelario) and her betrayal as he faces Janson (Aidan Gillen) one final time.  Honestly, I found this movie to be unbelievably repetitive because it was basically a two hour rescue mission with nothing new added to the narrative.  I think they could have added 20 minutes to The Scorch Trials and that would have been a satisfying conclusion to the story.  I didn't even find the action sequences to be all that compelling because we just see characters running through city streets and corridors with debris falling all around them and soldiers, with spectacularly bad aim, shooting at them.  There are also way too many convenient rescues with minor characters showing up from out of nowhere at just the right moment.  The two best sequences happen very early on when the Gladers hijack a train transporting immune children to W.C.K.D. headquarters and when the three main characters fight off a group of "Cranks" infected with the Flare in a tunnel and then it becomes really boring.  The bottom line is that this movie is only for those of you who, like me, are compulsive enough to want to finish out the trilogy.

Get Out

I have now seen all of the nominees for the Academy Award for Best Picture (click the title for my commentaries on Phantom Thread, The Post, Darkest Hour, Call Me By Your Name, Lady Bird, The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and Dunkirk).  For some reason I missed seeing Get Out when it was initially released but, luckily, Megaplex Theatres are screening all of the Best Picture nominees and I had a chance to see it last night.  Get Out is one of the best psychological thrillers that I have seen in quite some time and, if you haven't had a chance to see it, don't miss it while it is in theaters now!  Rose (Allison Williams) invites her black boyfriend Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) to spend the weekend at her wealthy parents' secluded estate on a lake.  Her father Dean (Bradley Whitford), mother Missy (Catherine Keener), and brother Jeremy (Caleb Landry Jones) all make awkward attempts to put him at ease.  He soon notices that the black cook and caretaker (Betty Gabriel and Marcus Henderson, respectively) are acting very strangely which puts him on guard.  Missy, a psychotherapist, offers to hypnotize him to help him stop smoking but the hypnosis is unsettling to him.  When the family holds a party, all of the guests, most of whom are elderly or impaired in some way, admire him for his physique or abilities.  Feeling a sense of dread, he asks Rose to leave but he eventually learns the real reason he has been brought to the estate.  This movie is deeply unsettling, but in the best way possible!  The tension builds and builds to a final resolution that I was not expecting (I don't know how I was able to avoid the spoilers).  The script is absolutely brilliant, very effectively combining elements of social commentary with horror which makes for an edge-of-your-seat survival thriller!  Kaluuya gives an excellent performance, especially in a scene where he remembers his mother's death.  This movie is funny, scary, and thought-provoking and I highly recommend it!

Note:  This year I really liked, and gave positive reviews to, all of the nominees.  But if the Academy were to ask for my opinion I would give the Oscar to Call Me By Your Name for its beautiful portrayal of first love!

Mozart & Haydn

It was mostly Mozart (with a little Haydn thrown in for good measure) last night at Abravanel Hall and, since Mozart is my very favorite composer, I have been looking forward to this concert all week!  Under the baton of guest conductor Patrick Dupre Quigley, the orchestra began with the Overture to Cosi fan tutte which is such a fun opera.  Listening to this brought back happy memories of attending this opera with my cousin.  Next, soloist Ronald Brautigam joined the orchestra for Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9.  With his mane of curly white hair, Brautigam was so much fun to watch in a brilliant performance.  I especially loved the second movement because it seemed a bit more somber and introspective in tone but I also loved the third movement because is was so lighthearted and playful, especially the call and response between the piano and orchestra.  After the intermission the orchestra played what is probably Mozart's most recognized piece (you can probably hear the opening theme in your head tight now), Eine kleine Nachtmusik.  It is one of my favorite pieces by Mozart and it was absolutely delightful to hear it performed live.  It is so light, airy, and beautiful and listening to it after a long and tiring day made me so happy!  The concert concluded with Haydn's Symphony No. 99.  This piece was also very lighthearted and it really complimented the selections by Mozart very well.  The concert was simply delightful and I highly recommend getting a ticket to tonight's performance featuring the same program (go here).  All of the pieces performed are very accessible so this would be a great choice for those who have never been to a symphony concert before (check out this post for a guide to listening to classical music).

Hostiles

I've been anticipating the movie Hostiles since I saw the first trailer but, since it opened in SLC during Sundance, I had to wait until last night to see it!  Christian Bale plays Joseph Blocker, a hardened Captain in the U.S. Cavalry stationed at Ft. Berringer in New Mexico in 1892.  He is nearing retirement so he is given a final assignment to escort a dying Cheyenne chief named Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi) and his family, who have been held prisoner at the fort, back to their tribal lands in Montana.  Blocker bitterly refuses because Yellow Hawk is responsible for the deaths of many of his fellow officers but, when threatened with court martial and the loss of his pension, he grudgingly concedes but takes every opportunity to humiliate the chief as they begin the journey.  Soon they encounter Rosalee Quaid (Rosamund Pike), a woman living on the frontier whose entire family has been massacred by Comanche warriors (this sequence reminded me a great deal of The Searchers) and they convince her to join them.  Their journey is perilous (everything happens to them reminding me of The Revenant) and the only means of survival is through cooperation which eventually leads to acceptance and understanding.  A subplot involving a Cavalry officer (Ben Foster) being escorted to trial for murder is introduced midway through the film which serves to emphasize the atrocities committed by Blocker against Native American tribes and Bale does an outstanding job of portraying his inner torment.  The narrative is incredibly predictable but having a deeply flawed character ultimately find redemption is a theme that always works for me.  The cinematography is absolutely stunning with wide shots of beautiful scenery and, as I mentioned, Christian Bale gives an incredible performance as does Rosamund Pike.  I do have two criticisms:  the pacing is extremely slow and meditative and I would have liked to have had more character development for the Cheyenne in order to see their point of view.  However, I would definitely recommend this film.

Phantom Thread

The Academy Awards for Best Picture were announced last week and I've seen all but two of them (click on the title to read my commentaries for The Post, Darkest Hour, Call Me By Your Name, Lady Bird, The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and Dunkirk).  Since I always like to see all of the nominees before the big ceremony I decided to cross the remaining two off my list this week.  I started with Phantom Thread (which opened in SLC during Sundance) last night.  In the glamorous fashion world of post-war London, the House of Woodcock is run by Reynolds (Daniel Day-Lewis), a difficult, self-indulgent, meticulous, and fastidious designer, and his sister Cyril (Lesley Manville).  Women come and go in the self-proclaimed confirmed bachelor's life and he has Cyril dismiss them whenever they interfere with his genius.  Then he meets Alma (Vicky Krieps), a free-spirited waitress who becomes his muse and, eventually, his lover.  She immediately upsets his well-ordered world and it seems that she, too, will be dismissed but Alma gives as good as she gets in a twist that I honestly did not see coming.  It is a film that, I suspect, will not appeal to everyone because it is more character driven than plot driven but I was absolutely enthralled by the constant volleying back and forth between the three characters for dominance.  There is a scene where Reynolds takes Alma's measurements which, in my mind, is absolutely brilliant because it reveals each of the character's motivations without a word.  Reynolds is consumed by his need to reinvent Alma, Cyril is coolly assessing her rival for Reynolds' attention, and Alma is hopeful that she will become more than just a model.  I love Daniel Day-Lewis and he gives a mesmerizing performance (rumored to be his last).  In one scene he is so incredibly debonair and charming that it is easy to see how a woman could be completely undone by just a smile but in the next he is a petulant child complaining about too much noise at breakfast and his steely gaze over the top of his glasses could reduce a woman to tears.  He is simply riveting in every scene and I am sure that I will have to own a copy just to watch him work his magic over and over again.  Krieps and Manville are also excellent, particularly in a scene where the two women have a battle of wills over a doctor's visit.  The film is gorgeous to look at and I loved the swelling piano and strings of the score.  Again, this film is not for everyone but it is right up my alley and I loved it!

Sundance Film Festival 2018

Another successful Sundance Film Festival has concluded and I thoroughly enjoyed my experience this year.  I was able to see fifteen films, including everything that I really wanted to see, and I liked them all, some more than others.  My first film was You Were Never Really Here which stars Joaquin Phoenix as tormented hit man, suffering from PTSD as the result of an abusive childhood and his experiences as a soldier in Iraq, whose weapon of choice is a hammer.  He is hired to rescue a young girl but, when the rescue goes awry, he discovers that he was set up and vows vengeance on everyone involved.  It is a brutal but strangely beautiful film about a deeply flawed character finding redemption which is a favorite theme of mine.  Next I saw Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot, another film starring Joaquin Phoenix.  This is the true story about cartoonist John Callahan after he becomes paralyzed in an alcohol-related car accident.  He uses his cartoons, which feature very dark humor, as a way of coping with his paralysis and as a means of achieving sobriety.  Phoenix gives a riveting performance, as does Jonah Hill as his sponsor, and I liked the inclusion of Callahan's actual cartoons.  My next film was Blindspotting which I picked because it stars Daveed Diggs (the original Lafayette/Jefferson in Hamilton).  Diggs and Rafael Casal play Collin and Miles, two childhood best friends who now have a tense relationship.  Collin has recently been released from prison and is about to complete his probation.  We eventually learn that both of them committed the crime but, because Collin is black, he was the only one held responsible.  There are a lot of themes explored in this film but I found it to be an incredibly powerful commentary about racism that resonated with me deeply.  Diggs was at the Q&A after the film which just about blew my mind!  Next up was Lizzie, one of my most anticipated films of the festival.  It is a psychological thriller exploring the reasons behind the killing of Lizzie Borden's family.  Both Chloe Sevigny and Kristen Stewart give outstanding performances and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I saw it.  Another highly anticipated film was Colette, which tells the true story of one of the most celebrated writers from the Belle Epoque.  Keira Knightley stars in this lush bio-pic about a woman whose husband takes credit for her work until she eventually asserts her independence.  I love a good period piece but this also taps into the current zeitgeist of female empowerment.  Next, I was able to attend a free midnight screening of the documentary Believer about Dan Reynolds, the Imagine Dragons frontman, and his attempts to reconcile his LDS faith with the church's policy towards its LGTBQ members.  This documentary is extremely well done and finds just the right balance between highlighting a significant problem within the church (suicide is currently the number one cause of death for young people in Utah) while still being respectful.  I love Imagine Dragons and I really respect Dan Reynolds for the position he has taken.  Last Monday my only film was Wildlife, the directorial debut of Paul Dano (who was at the Q&A after the film).  In the late 1950s, a family with a history of moving from place to place has recently settled in a rural town in Montana.  The teenage son must deal with the disintegration of his parents' marriage when his father leaves his mother on her own to fight wild fires.  It is a simple but tragic story, anchored by an incredible performance by Carey Mulligan as a woman trapped by her circumstances.  Tuesday night I saw Hereditary, a horror film about the devastating effect a mysterious woman's death has on her family.  This film has an almost unbearable feeling of tension leading up to the final resolution.  I like to be genuinely scared, rather than shocked, by horror films and this one legitimately scared me (and the rest of the audience as well because there was much nervous laughter and even screaming).  On Wednesday I was able to take my students to a screening of Ophelia.  In my opinion, Ophelia is the most thinly drawn character and her fate is the most unsatisfactory in Shakespeare's version so I found her backstory to be incredibly compelling and her final resolution to be empowering in this retelling.  The film is beautiful and Daisy Ridley is fantastic in the title role.  My only complaint is that the final duel deviated from Lisa Klein's novel (upon which the film is based), turning what could have been a powerful moment into a silly slow-motion melodrama.  On Saturday I had three films!  The first was An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn which is a comedy of the absurd.  I don't even know how to describe this farce except to say that the over-the-top performances by Aubrey Plaza, Emile Hirsch, and Jemaine Clement made me laugh out loud.  The next film was The Miseducation of Cameron Post, starring Chloe Grace Moretz in a truly affecting performance as a young woman who is sent by her Evangelical family to a gay conversion camp after she is found having sex with a girl.  It is a poignant look at a group of teens learning to accept themselves.  The last film of the day was Puzzle which, surprisingly, ended up being a favorite from the festival.  Kelly Macdonald plays a wife and mother living an uneventful life in the suburbs who discovers a passion for jigsaw puzzles which leads to her awakening.  Who knew that a character driven film about completing puzzles could be so compelling?  As director Marc Turtletaub stated in the Q&A, it is a coming-of-age story about a 40 year old woman and I really liked it.  Yesterday I also had three films, beginning with Hearts Beat Loud.  I loved this film so much!  It is a tender story about a father-daughter relationship starring Nick Offerman and Kiersey Clemons and it is just lovely!  During the summer before she leaves for college, a young woman begins writing songs with her father and, when one of them becomes popular on Spotify, he tries to compel her to stay in order get a record deal until he realizes that he needs to let her go.  I absolutely loved the scene where Frank hears their song being played in a coffee shop!  The next film was The Happy Prince, starring Rupert Everett as Oscar Wilde during the last years of his life after being imprisoned for gross indecency.  Everett gives an amazing performance but I sometimes found the timeline to be a bit muddled as it is framed by Wilde's recollections on his deathbed interspersed with nonlinear flashbacks.  As a teacher of British literature, I really loved the use of Wilde's writings as voice-over narration throughout the film.  My final film of the festival was The Catcher Was a Spy which was a highly coveted ticket.  Paul Rudd plays Moe Berg, a major league baseball player who joins the OSS during World War II and is tasked with determining whether Germany is building an atomic bomb.  I thought the ending was a bit anticlimactic but I enjoyed it as a fan of espionage films.  It was a wonderful ten days and, as always, my favorite part was talking to the people I met in line.  My favorite conversation was with two really cool guys about the brilliance of A Ghost Story which screened at Sundance last year!  I can hardly wait for next year!

Utah Opera's Moby-Dick

Utah Opera’s premiere of Heggie and Scheer’s Moby-Dick had three strikes against it.  First, Herman Melville’s novel, upon which the opera is based, is definitely not my favorite.  As an English teacher it pains me to admit that I have never actually made it all of the way through.  I find the endless minutiae about the whaling industry to be mind numbingly dull.  Second, I am not usually a fan of modern operas sung in English.  I much prefer the classics sung in German and Italian.  Third, the run of this opera coincided with the Sundance Film Festival and I didn’t think I would be able to fit it in.  However, the more I learned about the production the more intrigued I became and I decided to get a ticket.  Last night I interrupted my Sundance screenings to see it and I am so glad that I did because it is brilliant!  Surprisingly, I found the condensed version of the novel performed on the Capitol Theatre stage to be anything but dull.  I was completely captivated by the story of an obsession for vengeance.  When the Pequod sets sail from Nantucket, the crew is excited about the riches they will earn, Greenhorn (Joshua Dennis), a newcomer to whaling, is eager for the adventure of seeing the world, Queegueg (Musa Ngqungwana) longs to see his island in the South Pacific again, and Starbuck (David Adam Moore) laments the dangers of whaling and fears that he will never see his wife and son again.  Soon Captain Ahab (Roger Honeywell) tells them that the real mission is to find the white whale that took his leg and offers a gold doubloon to the sailor who spots Moby Dick first.  When the crew is about to harpoon a whale, Ahab orders them to stop because it isn’t his whale.  Three months later the crew is bored and prone to fighting so Starbuck demands that Ahab let them hunt.  After spearing a whale, Starbuck pleads with Ahab to return to Nantucket to repair the leaking oil barrels and to seek medical attention for the cabin boy Pip (Jasmine Habersham) who was thrown overboard.  Ahab refuses and Starbuck contemplates killing him before his obsession dooms them all.  Ahab descends further into madness and, when the whale is finally spotted, deems it his destiny to kill it himself in an epic battle which kills everyone on board except Greenhorn who utters these immortal words when he is rescued: "Call me Ishmael."  The music is beautiful and haunting and I especially loved it when the chorus chants "Death to Moby Dick."  All of the principals sing their roles brilliantly and I was struck by the pathos in every performance, particularly by Moore!  The men's chorus not only sings but does an outstanding job with the choreography to convey the movement on a ship, whether it is raising the sails, harpooning a whale, rendering the blubber into oil, or riding out a storm.  The sets and costumes were constructed by Utah Opera and they are fantastic.  Finally, the build up to the battle between the whale and Ahab is intense and I was not disappointed with the special effects (which I will not spoil for those still planning to see it) in this scene.  I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I loved this opera and I highly recommend getting a ticket to the final performance on Sunday.

Cash on Delivery at HCT

Wednesday night I took a little break from the Sundance Film Festival to see Cash on Delivery, a lighthearted slap-stick comedy, at Hale Centre Theatre. Eric Swann (Bryan Dayley) began defrauding the office of Social Services by accepting payments for nonexistent lodgers at his house two years ago after losing his job at the Electric Company. Social Services, becoming suspicious of so many payments being sent to the same residence, sends Mr. Jenkins (Mark Fotheringham) to investigate. Swann enlists the help of his actual lodger Norman McDonald (Greg Larsen) and his uncle George (George Anderson) in order to keep up the ruse with not only Jenkins but his wife (Michelle Linn Hall), Norman's fiancee (Shannon Ricks), a grief counselor (Margie Johnson), an enthusiastic undertaker (Ben Parkes), a marriage counselor (David Marsden), and Jenkins' superior Ms. Cowper (Alison W. Henriksen). Chaos ensues as each of them are forced to tell one outrageous lie after another and impersonate fictional characters, including one who is supposed to be deaf and two who are supposed to be dead, until the whole thing unravels with hilarious consequences. At one point, I couldn't remember who was impersonating whom! I laughed and laughed at all of their antics! Every member of the cast, especially Dayley and Larsen, has impeccable comedic timing and the British accents are entirely believable.  The physical comedy is an absolute hoot, especially when one of the characters who is pretending to be dead is stuffed into a window seat and I always love a comedy that features lots of slamming doors. My only complaint is that I couldn't see some of the action because a large couch blocked my view from the left side of the stage (perhaps the scenic designers are so used to creating sets for the theater-in-the-round that they need some practice for a more traditional stage).  It was such a fun evening and I highly recommend this show but, as always, tickets are going fast (go here).

Note: This was quite the departure from all of the dark and edgy films I've been seeing at Sundance!

Sundance Student Screening 2018

I have a wonderful group of seniors this year!  I had a lot of the students as sophomores two years ago so I had an instant rapport with them.  They trust me and so they are willing to share their opinions and discuss the pieces of literature that we read.  Last semester we read Hamlet and we had some epic discussions about characterization.  One of the things I asked them to think about as we read was if they thought the characters were the architects of their own doom.  They came to the conclusion that all of the characters deserve their fate except for Ophelia.  The girls, especially, were really angry about her treatment because they saw her as a pawn for all of the men in her life.  Some of the students were so interested in Ophelia as a character that I eventually recommended the novel Ophelia, by Lisa Klein, which tells the story from her perspective.  Imagine my surprise when some of them starting reading it (one girl asked for it for Christmas!).  This is why I do what I do!  Every year I am given tickets to a student screening at the Sundance Film Festival and I was emailed a list of films to choose from in early December.  I noticed that there was a film called Ophelia and, when I read the description, I realized that it was based upon Klein's novel.  Of course I had to choose it and, when I announced it to my students, they cheered out loud.  My 50 allotted tickets were claimed within days and they have been so excited, practically counting down the days!  We were able to see the film yesterday and to say that the students loved it would be an understatement.  They discussed it all the way home on the bus! It is so special to me to be able to share my love of film with my students and the fact that they were so engaged with this particular film is something that I will never forget!  I have had so many wonderful experiences at the Sundance Film Festival this year (a full wrap-up is coming soon) but this tops them all!  A huge thank you to the Sundance Institute for offering these screenings to students free of charge.

Bright Star at PTC

When I went to New York almost two years ago there was one night when the group didn't have theatre tickets together and we were free to get tickets on our own.  I thought about Waitress (which I eventually saw with my friend Esther) and I also thought about Bright Star because I had heard so many great things about it.  But then Hamilton became a possibility and that eclipsed everything else!  Of course, seeing the original cast of Hamilton on Broadway was a dream come true but there was a little part of me that regretted the fact that I didn't get a chance to see Bright Star.  Little did I know that the show would be coming to Salt Lake City so soon and that almost the entire cast would be reprising their roles from the Broadway production, including the incomparable Carmen Cusack as Alice Murphy!  It is fantastic and to say that I loved it would be an understatement.  Featuring music and lyrics by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, the story takes place in North Carolina during the 1920s and just after World War II.  After returning from the war, Billy Cane (A.J. Shively) briefly returns to his small town and his childhood friend Margot (Maddie Shea Baldwin) but he decides to try writing for a magazine in Asheville and meets the uptight editor, Alice Murphy, who once made Hemingway cry.  When the magazine staff tease Alice about her boring existence, we see her (literally) transform into a wild and rebellious girl in love with Jimmy Ray Dobbs (Patrick Cummings).  The narrative goes back and forth from one timeline to the other as Alice learns to deal with heartache and loss and Billy learns the importance of home and the one who really loves him.  There is a plot twist that I predicted almost immediately but I was still completely engaged with the story because the performances are wonderful and the bluegrass music is incredible!  The song "Please Don't Take Him" brought tears to my eyes and I do not know how Cusack can sing it with such emotion night after night.  I think my favorite song in the show is "Asheville" because it is sung by a girl who is worried that the boy she loves will forget all about her when he goes to the big city.  Baldwin fills it with such longing and I liked how the song is staged.  In fact, the staging of the entire show is extremely clever with the ensemble cast moving props and scenery on and off stage seamlessly.  Finally, the band, sitting in a rustic cottage that is moved to various places on stage, is superb.  I especially enjoyed the fiddle solos played by Martha McDonnell.  Pioneer Theatre Company is only the third regional theater to produce this musical and I consider myself lucky to get to see such an amazing cast right here in SLC!  I highly recommend seeing this show, but you better hurry because tickets are going fast!  The rush pass line was the longest I've seen for any show at PTC (Including Newsies!).  Go here for tickets and information.

The Post

Since yesterday was a day off from school I decided to see The Post and it is simply marvelous.  Katharine Graham (Meryl Streep) is the only female publisher of a newspaper after taking over the Washington Post from her deceased husband.  She feels inadequate and often defers to the powerful men around her, including her editor-in-chief Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks).  A source gives the New York Times documents chronicling the clandestine policies of four administrations in Vietnam.  When the New York Times receives an injunction against publishing any more stories, a reporter from the Washington Post goes after the source and also receives the documents.  Katharine Graham must balance her friendship with Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara (Bruce Greenwood) along with her fears about the reaction of investors after taking the newspaper public not to mention the possibility of committing a felony against the freedom of the press.  In one of the most powerful scenes in the movie, she overrules all of the powerful men around her and decides to publish.  This movie is slow and the Supreme Court case upholding the freedom of the press is almost an afterthought but there are a few things that make this film absolutely brilliant.  First, it taps into the zeitgeist of our current times.  Although set in 1971 this movie may as well be about the attempts of the press to hold our current administration accountable.  Second, I love that the film emphasizes the difficulties faced by a woman in a position of power.  Time and time again we see Graham enter a room filled entirely of men and there is a particular scene where Graham is relegated to the living room with all of the wives of powerful men while they stay in the dining room to discuss business that really angered me.  However, the powerful scene where Graham tells her Chairman of the Board that the paper belongs to her and a scene where she walks down the steps of the Supreme Court with women looking to her as a role model made me want to cheer out loud!  Finally, the performances of both Streep and Hanks are just superb as are those in the all-star ensemble cast including Bruce Greenwood, Sarah Paulson, Tracy Letts, and Bradley Whitford among others.  Steven Spielberg has done it again and I highly recommend this movie!

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Yesterday I had the opportunity to see The Treasure of the Sierra Madre for the first time on the big screen in honor of its 70th Anniversary.  I love being able to see these classic movies as they were meant to be seen and this one about greed and betrayal is spectacular.  Frank Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) and Bob Curtain (Tim Holt) are down and out in Tampico, Mexico in the 1920s when they meet an old prospector (Walter Huston) full of wild stories about the fortune to be made in the mountains.  Dobbs and Curtain decide to put in with him and they endure many hardships before finding the mother lode.  Even after acquiring enough gold for all three of them to live comfortably for the rest of their lives they still want more and soon begin to distrust each other.  When a stranger happens upon their mine they contemplate killing him to avoid taking him on as a partner.  After fighting off a group of bandits they decide to close down the mine but Dobbs turns against them in one of the most ironic endings I've ever seen.  This movie does move at a very slow pace but the point is not really the adventure but what the adventure does to the men and this theme is very compelling.  Bogart gives an incredible performance as a man slowly driven mad by his own greed and I also really enjoyed Huston as the grizzled old prospector, especially when he does his famous jig when they discover gold.  This movie also includes one of the most famous lines when a bandit says, "We don't need no badges.  I don't have to show you any stinking badges."  My Dad quotes this line to me all of the time but I never knew what it meant.  Now I do!  This is a fantastic movie and I recommend seeing it on the big screen.  You have another opportunity on Jan. 17 (go here for tickets).

Call Me By Your Name

Several of my friends saw Call Me By Your Name at Sundance last year and were blown away by it so I have been eagerly anticipating its wide release for what seems like such a long time!  I finally got to see it last night because Salt Lake Film Society brought it to SLC a week earlier than planned.  This film left me an emotional mess and I'm pretty sure that I will be seeing it several more times.  Elio Perlman (Timothee Chalamet) is spending the summer in Northern Italy with his family when Oliver (Armie Hammer), a doctoral student, comes to stay to assist his father (Michael Stuhlbarg), who is a professor of archaeology.  Elio has an instant attraction to Oliver and awkwardly tries to gauge his feelings, even beginning a relationship with a local girl (Esther Garrel) to make him jealous.  The scenes between Elio and Oliver are long and drawn out but they are fraught with so much tension (Chalamet and Hammer have unbelievable chemistry) until they finally begin a physical relationship.  Eventually, Oliver must go home which leaves Elio brokenhearted but, in what is arguably the best scene in the film, his father tells him that it is better to feel sad than to feel nothing at all and that he should be grateful to have had such a special relationship because they are rare.  In my opinion this is one of the best coming of age films about first love ever made and, if you have ever loved someone that you can't be with, you definitely need to see it.  I started crying when Elio says goodbye to Oliver at the train station and I was a complete mess by the end credits. Timothee Chalamet is absolutely brilliant in this role and, as much as Gary Oldman impressed me as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, I think Chalamet is deserving of the Oscar for the final shot alone.  His quiet restraint as he cries after hearing some devastating news simply shattered me.  The cinematography is beautiful, almost making the lush countryside a character itself, and, while I loved the songs by Sufjan Stevens which are so evocative, the use of "Love My Way" by The Psychedelic Furs pretty much did me in (it is a favorite from my youth and many memories came rushing back to me of high school).  It is an amazing film and I highly recommend it!

Note:  If I had seen this before the end of the year, my Top Ten list would be different.  This film is definitely up there with A Ghost Story and Personal Shopper.

Fischer Conducts Rachmaninoff & Stravinsky

Most Friday nights you can find me at Abravanel Hall attending a Utah Symphony concert.  I go so often that the ushers recognize me and one even called me by name last night!  She explained to the couple ahead of me in line, in minute detail, where they were sitting but when I presented my ticket she greeted me like a long lost friend and said that I certainly didn't need any help finding my seat!  It made me laugh!  How could I miss a concert featuring Rachmaninoff?  This is the third concert this season to feature one of my very favorite composers and I couldn't be happier.  Last night's concert began with Funeral Song by Stravinsky.  Thierry Fischer addressed the audience for the second week in a row (I find him to be utterly charming) to tell us that this is the first time that the orchestra has ever played this piece in Abravanel Hall.  Stravinsky wrote it in honor of Rimsky-Korsakov and I loved it because it was very somber and atmospheric.  Next came Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1. Squeal!  I love this piece so much because it is so dramatic and emotional.  The orchestra was joined by Stephen Hough on piano and he was absolutely brilliant!  I loved watching his fingers fly across the keyboard!  After the intermission the orchestra played The Firebird by Stravinsky.  This was commissioned by Serge Diaghilev for the Ballet Russes and tells the story of how Prince Ivan spares the life of the Firebird and, in gratitude, it returns when summoned by Ivan to defeat the evil Koschei the Immortal.  There were supertitles projected on the screen to tell the story but I could understand what was happening just by listening to the music because it evoked so many images, especially during the "Infernal Dance."  I really liked the themes played by the flute (to me the flute represented the Firebird), the use of three harps to create a magical world, and a trumpet fanfare performed from the balcony.  Once again, it was a wonderful concert and I definitely recommend getting a ticket to tonight's performance (go here for tickets).

Something Rotten at the Eccles

My first theatre performance of 2018 was the Broadway touring company production of Something Rotten at the Eccles Theater.  I absolutely loved it!  I didn't know much about this show so when I got to the theater last night I started to read the program and discovered that Adam Pascal plays one of the lead roles!  Squeal!  He originated the roles of Roger in Rent and Radames in Aida on Broadway and I listen to the original recordings of those shows all of the time because I love Pascal's rock and roll tenor voice.  To say that I was excited to see him would be an understatement.  In fact, I haven't been this starstruck at a theatre performance since I saw Lin Manuel Miranda!  I may or may not have screamed like a thirteen year old girl when he first appeared on stage (for about ten seconds).  Adam Pascal aside, the show is hilarious!  It is a fantastic spoof of Shakespearean plays and Broadway musicals (over 60 different musicals are referenced).  Nick and Nigel Bottom (Rob McClure and Josh Grisetti, respectively) are playwrights who are tired of being outshined by William Shakespeare (Pascal).  Nick wants to do something new so he contacts Nostradamus (Blake Hammond) to see what will be popular in the future.  Nostradamus suggests writing a play with singing and dancing in one of my favorite numbers from the show, "A Musical."  Things go slightly awry when Nick asks Nostradamus to look into the future to see what Shakespeare's most popular play will be and, instead of Hamlet, Nostradamus sees omelette.  Nick tries to produce Omelette The Musical while Shakespeare tries to steal his own play back.  I loved all of the references to Hamlet (my seniors just finished reading it), especially the song "To Thine Own Self."  I think I may need to download the soundtrack and play it to my students!  I also really loved all of the references to Broadway musicals.  As an English teacher who is also a theatre junkie, this show was practically written for me!  Adam Pascal did not disappoint and his voice was perfect for the songs "Will Power" and "Hard to be the Bard" because Shakespeare is portrayed as the biggest rock star of the Renaissance.  I had so much fun watching this incredibly entertaining show and I highly recommend it!  Something Rotten runs through January 14 at the Eccles Theater (tickets may be purchased here).

The Room

After watching The Disaster Artist a few weeks ago, The Room became a must see!  Luckily I had the opportunity to see Tommy Wiseau's epic masterpiece on the big screen last night.  This movie is an absolute riot and I saw it with a loud and rowdy crowd which made watching it so much fun!  The story is essentially a love triangle between Johnny (Wiseau), his best friend Mark (Greg Sestero), and his fiancee Lisa (Juliette Danielle) with a revolving door of characters who live in their same building.  The  plot is meandering, the dialogue is completely over the top (it was supposedly inspired by Rebel Without a Cause and the plays of Tennessee Williams), and the acting is stilted and tone deaf.  There are innumerable scenes of characters having awkward sex with strange moaning sounds and there are wide shots of San Francisco with melodramatic music in between every scene.  The lines "I don't want to talk about it" and "Don't worry about it" are repeated endlessly and the audience in my screening began yelling them out with the actors!  In fact, the audience laughed uproariously at just about everything that happened and applauded when Johnny spoke the immortal line, "You're tearing me apart, Lisa!"   I don't know when I have had more fun watching a movie so, in a strange way, Tommy Wiseau really did create something epic.  I can honestly say that it is the best bad movie I have ever seen and I recommend it highly (for laughs).

I, Tonya

My first movie of 2018 was I, Tonya and, boy, did I pick a good one to start the year!  It is a dark comedy about the real life Olympic figure skater who rose to notoriety through the actions of the idiots surrounding her.  The narrative is told though present day interviews of Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie), her ex-husband Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan), and her estranged mother LaVona (a brilliant Allison Janney) interspersed with flashbacks to events in Tonya's life, including the "incident."  The fact that all three of them are unreliable narrators makes this one wild ride and I loved it when the characters broke the fourth wall to make snarky comments to the audience about the goings-on.  This movie is very funny and over the top but I also found Harding to be an incredibly sympathetic character (which, remembering this incident vividly, I was not expecting).  Tonya went from one horribly abusive relationship with her mother to another one with her husband.  She was an incredibly gifted skater but, because she couldn't afford to maintain the image the U.S. Figure Skating Association wanted to project (she sewed her own costumes), she was often judged unfairly.  Her environment was so unstable that it really is a wonder that she was able to rise above it all to compete at the highest levels of her sport.  I was really struck by the scene of a young Tonya begging her father to take her with him when he leaves her mother and the scene where Tonya begs the judge to let her do jail time rather than ban her from competitive skating for life is very poignant.  However, the scene that resonated with me the most was just before her long program at the Lillehammer Olympics when the lace on her skate breaks and she is forced to begin or be disqualified.  Her panic and despair was difficult for me to watch because I remember thinking that she was such a prima donna when I watched this event live.  It is so easy to judge someone without knowing all of the circumstances.  Robbie gives an amazing performance (she even learned how to skate!) but Janney bats it out of the park by giving a monstrous character just a bit of humanity (the scene where she watches Tonya skate at the U.S. Championships on TV is brilliant).  I highly recommend this movie!

The Disaster Artist

There are good movies and bad movies and then there are movies that are so bad they become good and gain a cult following.  For me that movie is Flash Gordon but for many people it is The Room, which still has midnight screenings around the country and audience participation that rivals The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  On New Year's Eve I saw The Disaster Artist which is about the making of The Room and it is absolutely hilarious.  Not only is it an homage to the relentless pursuit of your dream against all odds and despite what everyone tells you, but it is also an affecting story of a friendship.  Greg Sestero (Dave Franco) meets Tommy Wiseau (James Franco) in an acting class and they soon become friends after bonding over the movie Rebel Without a Cause.  Tommy is eccentric (to say the least) and of an indeterminate age with mysterious origins (he says he is from Louisiana) and a seemingly limitless source of income but he somehow convinces Greg to move to Los Angeles to pursue their dreams of acting.  After much rejection Tommy decides to make is own movie as a vehicle for Greg.   He writes the script, buys his own equipment rather than renting it, hires a production team, auditions actors, and begins filming in some highly amusing scenes.  The shoot is fraught with difficulties, not the least of which is Tommy's inability to remember his lines (which he wrote), but somehow the movie is completed and given a premiere (paid for by Tommy).  The two friends are estranged at this point but Greg comes to the premiere.  When the movie isn't received as Tommy intended, there is a touching moment when Greg tells him that not many people get to live out a dream and to be proud of what he has created.  I laughed and laughed at this movie (as did everyone in my packed screening) but I also really enjoyed the message of pursuing your dreams.  I loved Josh Hutcherson and Zac Efron as characters in The Room and Seth Rogen (hit or miss with me) as the exasperated script supervisor but James Franco does a brilliant job portraying such a bizarre character without turning him into a caricature.  It was a lot of fun to see side by side shots of scenes from The Room with the same scenes filmed for this movie during the credits.  Last New Year's Eve I saw the film Fences and I can definitely say that seeing The Disaster Artist was an infinitely more enjoyable experience!  I highly recommend it!

Note:  I haven't seen The Room but now that I've seen The Disaster Artist, I really want to.  Fathom Events is sponsoring a special screening tomorrow (go here for info) and I can't wait!

Molly's Game

The next film on my winter break movie list was Molly's Game, which tells the true story of the rise and fall of Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain).  Most of my friends really liked this movie (and it's getting quite a bit of Oscar buzz) but, to be honest, I wasn't very keen on it.  After a devastating accident ends her amateur skiing career, Molly is at loose ends and decides to move to Los Angeles where she becomes the personal assistant of a wannabe Hollywood player.  Among her other duties, she is tasked with setting up and running his weekly poker game with a well-known actor and other notables who tip her extravagantly.  She decides to learn everything there is to know about poker and, when her boss treats her unfairly, she woos the actor (reportedly based on Tobey Maguire) to a game that she runs.  She makes a fortune until a few incidents lose her the game.  She decides to take what she has learned and start a new game in New York which eventually includes members from the Russian mob.  Her involvement with mob leads to an arrest by the FBI so she hires Charlie Jaffey (Idris Elba) to represent her.  He becomes exasperated with her because she won't disclose information about the participants in order to clear herself.  This film reminded me a lot of The Big Short because there are some amusing montages and onscreen descriptions of poker but, for me, the stakes (pun intended) weren't high enough to make the story as compelling.  Jessica Chastain is receiving a lot of attention for this role but I found her performance (and endless voice-over narration) to be very monotone and devoid of emotion as she spits out the words as fast as she can (a criticism I also have with Jesse Eisenberg's performance in The Social Network).   I also have a problem with Sorkin's ultimate portrayal of Molly as a victim of the men in her life.  After the first two acts show Molly as an intelligent and resourceful entrepreneur, there is a scene with her estranged father (Kevin Costner) near the end of the film where he tells her that all of her behavior has been a reaction to him.  Ugh!  This scene invalidates the theme of the entire movie!  I didn't really like Molly's Game but I suspect that many people will.

Pitch Perfect 3

I loved Pitch Perfect and I liked Pitch Perfect 2.  I had so much fun watching both of them with my niece so I decided we should finish the trilogy together and see Pitch Perfect 3 despite the fact that the trailer looked terrible and the reviews were abysmal.  I love hanging out with my niece so it wasn't a wasted afternoon but, you guys, this movie is aca-awful!  The former Barden Bellas have not adjusted well to life in the real world and want another chance to sing together.  They get an opportunity to perform as part of a USO tour of Europe with other bands (not a cappella groups, by the way) who are each competing to be the opening act for DJ Khaled (playing himself).   What will happen to the group when DJ Khaled only wants to sign Becca (Anna Kendrick) without the other girls?  Do we even care?  All of the other girls (except for Fat Amy - more on her later) have been relegated to cameo roles so it hardly matters how they feel about this. Everything that was fun about the first movie feels so contrived in this one.  We have the inevitable riff-off with the other bands on tour, we have a few love interests (a soldier assigned to protect the girls played by Matt Lanter and DJ Khaled's producer played by Guy Burnet) which seem to go nowhere, and we even have John (John Michael Higgins) and Gail (Elizabeth Banks) following them around making a documentary about the Bellas.  Add to this an inexplicable plot involving a reunion between Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) and her absentee father (John Lithgow) who kidnaps the Bellas to gain control of her heretofore unknown million dollar trust fund.  Fat Amy becomes an action hero saving the girls from an exploding yacht.  No!  Just no!  Lithgow is absolutely horrible in this role and, as far as I am concerned, Australia should lodge a formal complaint over his accent.  DJ Khaled isn't much better.  In fact, at one point Tashena leaned over and said, "You can tell he isn't an actor!"  All of this might be forgivable if the songs are fun but most of them use instruments which kind of defeats the whole point of the movie.  Ugh!  You know the movie is bad when your niece tells you that she had fun any way!  Give this a miss!

Hilary Hahn plays Dvorak's Violin Concerto

Now that the holidays are over (I will resume my winter break movie commentaries tomorrow) I went back to my usual Friday night ritual!  I found myself at Abravanel Hall for a thrilling Utah Symphony concert featuring the music of Haydn and Dvorak.  Despite what it said in the program, the orchestra began with the exciting and energetic Slavonic Dance No. 8 with an equally energetic Thierry Fischer on the podium!  After this piece, Fischer addressed the audience telling us that a new year should be filled with contrasts and surprises and so the orchestra would alternate between the movements of Haydn's Symphony No. 8 and Dvorak's Slavonic Dances (six of them).  This made for a very lively evening as I eagerly anticipated what I would hear next because I kind of lost track of which was which and just enjoyed the music without overthinking it.  The two pieces worked surprisingly well together and I loved Fischer's enthusiasm!  My favorite was the second movement of the Haydn because it is romantic and contemplative with just a hint of melancholy and the orchestra played it with a lot of expression.  After the intermission the orchestra returned to play Dvorak's Violin Concerto with Hilary Hahn, a frequent guest of the Utah Symphony, as the soloist.  It is easy to see why Abravanel Hall was packed almost to capacity because Hahn is such a dynamic and brilliant performer.  I loved watching her fingers fly across her violin and I definitely enjoyed her performance.  So did the rest of the crowd who jumped to their feat in a thunderous ovation!  She was brought back to the stage numerous times and even favored us with a beautiful encore.  It was a spectacular evening and I recommend getting a ticket for tonight's performance of the same program (go here).

Note:  I almost always get a ticket to the first Utah Symphony concert of the year because it is usually so hard to go back to school after the holidays and I need something to look forward to in order to make it through!    However, I had a great week with my students so this concert was the cherry on top!

All the Money in the World

After watching Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle with the kiddos I saw All the Money in the World later that evening.  This is another movie that pleasantly surprised me because, honestly, I didn't have a lot of interest in seeing it until the controversy with Kevin Spacey resulted in re-shoots with Christopher Plummer in the role Spacey was to have played.  This piqued my curiosity!  I would actually like to see the film with Spacey's interpretation of the role because I think Plummer is absolutely brilliant!  In fact, it is his performance, along with that of Michelle Williams, that elevates a pretty standard narrative about a kidnapping into a tense and compelling movie.  Based on true events, J. Paul Getty III (Charlie Plummer) is kidnapped from Rome in 1973 and the kidnappers demand $17 million in ransom.  His mother Gail (Williams) does not have the money (after eschewing a large divorce settlement in return for sole custody of her children) but his grandfather J. Paul Getty (Plummer) is the richest man in the world and that amount is basically pocket change.  Gail pleads with Getty to pay the ransom but he refuses, sending his henchman, former CIA agent Fletcher Chase (Mark Wahlberg), in to negotiate instead.  There are some interesting twists and turns along the way leading to a resolution that is a bit far-fetched but thrilling, nonetheless.  I loved the 1970s verisimilitude and all of the wide shots in opulent locations.  Michelle Williams is excellent and I especially enjoyed her transformation from a young woman awed by the Getty wealth into a mother who won't back down from a bully who is more powerful than she is.  Getty is an incredibly unsympathetic character and Plummer plays him with such menace.  There is a particular scene where Getty, after refusing to pay his grandson's ransom, spends twice that amount on a painting of a Madonna and child.  It is a chilling portrait of greed that gave me goosebumps.  I highly recommend this movie!

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

Last Wednesday I took Sean and Tashena to see Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and, to be honest, it was a pleasant surprise because I really enjoyed it.  Spencer (Alex Wolff), a bit of a nerd, gets detention for writing a research paper for a football player known as "Fridge" (Ser'Darius Blain), who also gets detention, Bethany (Madison Iseman), the selfie queen, gets detention for using her phone during a quiz, and Martha (Morgan Turner), a shy bookworm, gets detention for refusing to participate in PE.  While serving detention, they find an old video game called Jumanji and decide to play.  Spencer chooses Dr. Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson), a daring archaeologist, as his avatar while "Fridge" chooses Franklin Finbar (Kevin Hart), a short zoologist, Bethany chooses Professor Sheldon "Shelly" Osborn (Jack Black), an overweight cartographer, and Martha chooses Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan), a martial arts expert.  They are transported into the game and must return a precious stone stolen by Van Pelt (Bobby Cannavale), a big game hunter, to a giant statue of a jaguar.  It is an absolute hoot.  The action sequences are great but I found the story, which has a few twists, to be compelling.  What makes this movie so much fun is that the characters have the physical attributes of their avatars but they keep their own personalities.  This creates a lot of comedic moments, especially as the nerdy Sheldon adjusts to having muscles, the self-absorbed Bethany gets used to being a man (who has to pee), the jock Fridge realizes that he is intelligent, and Martha learns how to flirt (I laughed and laughed at that sequence).  Sean and Tashena loved it and laughed through the whole thing!  I laughed quite a bit, too, so this is a movie to take the kids to that you will also enjoy.  I highly recommend this for a really good time at the movies!

The Greatest Showman

I actually saw The Greatest Showman twice over winter break.  I took my Mom and my nephew (who absolutely loves Zendaya) the day after Christmas and then, because my Mom asked to see it again, I went with her and my sister Marilyn a few days later.  I love this movie so much and, apparently, so do a lot of people.  During the first screening, the theater was totally full (we had to sit on the first row) and after the second screening, at 10:00 am mind you, the entire theater applauded at the end!  It is a big movie musical with actors who can actually sing and dance!  It tells a romanticized version of how P.T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman) came to create the Greatest Show on Earth beginning with his impoverished childhood as the son of a tailor.  He meets Charity (Michelle Williams), the daughter of a wealthy client, and promises her he will give her the same life she gives up for him.  After losing his mundane job, he takes a gamble and recruits a group of misfits and unusual performers to create his circus.  After some financial success, he desires respectability and hires Philip Carlyle (Zac Efron), a playwright with a trust fund, to help with publicity.  Philip falls in love with a trapeze artist (Zendaya) to the chagrin of his wealthy parents.  Barnum eventually meets opera singer Jenny Lind (Rebecca Ferguson) and decides to promote her on tour which causes him to neglect both the circus and his family.  After losing everything, both Philip and Barnum must learn what is really important.  Many critics have complained that this movie sanitizes the truth about P.T. Barnum's reputed cruelty to his performers but that didn't really matter to me because I enjoy feel good stories where everyone breaks out into song.  The songs are fantastic and I especially love "A Million Dreams" and "Come Alive."  The choreography is spectacular, particularly the aerial sequence in "Rewrite the Stars."  Jackman, Efron, and Zendaya are well-known performers but I was quite impressed by Michelle Williams and I loved her song, "Tightrope."  As I mentioned, the message of this movie is so positive, especially about people who are different, and the number "This Is Me" by the bearded lady (Keala Settle) is an anthem for misfits everywhere!  I cannot recommend this movie enough!

Darkest Hour

Winter break is now over and I am back at school but, like last year, I happily spent much of it in a darkened theater.  In the next few weeks I will review all of the movies that I saw and I will start with Darkest Hour.  As Western Europe is collapsing under the onslaught of German tanks, the narrative begins with Winston Churchill's (Gary Oldman) appointment as Prime Minister of Great Britain and follows his first pivotal months in office as he faces opposition in his own party from politicians who want a negotiated peace with Germany and a King who does not support him culminating in the miraculous evacuation of Dunkirk.  I really liked the stirring speeches given to Parliament (the "We shall fight them on the beaches" speech is absolutely electrifying) and the public on the radio juxtaposed with moments of private doubt with his fiery wife Clementine (Kristin Scott Thomas) and his long-suffering secretary Elizabeth Layton (Lily James).  It is also interesting to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how the decisions that impacted the world were made in underground bunkers and I absolutely loved the scenes where Churchill talks to the ordinary citizens in the underground.  Even though this film involves a lot of back room discussions, it was surprisingly tense and my attention never wavered.  Oldman gives an absolutely brilliant performance in the title role which is worthy of all of the accolades he has won and will, undoubtedly, win.  Many might find the pace to be slow and it does require some intellectual engagement but I highly recommend this film to history aficionados everywhere.

Note:  I find it interesting that the evacuation of Dunkirk was the subject of three films this year (this as well as Dunkirk and Their Finest).