Tulip Fever

I really love period dramas and, despite everything I had heard, I still thought I might like Tulip Fever so I went to see it last night.  It looked absolutely beautiful in the previews and it has a stellar cast so how bad could it be?  It is pretty bad.  Set in 17th Century Amsterdam, Sophia (Alicia Vikander) is an orphan essentially sold to Cornelis Sandvoort (Christoph Waltz), a wealthy merchant, because he is desperate for an heir.  She fails to produce said heir but he treats her kindly.  He hires Jan Van Loos (Dane DeHaan), a struggling artist, to paint their portrait and of course he falls in love with Sophia and they begin an affair.  In an attempt to be with Sophia, Jan begins speculating in the tulip market, where fortunes can be won and lost in an instant, with the help of the Mother Abbess (Judi Dench) who raised Sophia.  Maria (Holliday Grainger), Sophia's maid, is in love with a fishmonger named Willem (Jack O'Connell) who also speculates in the tulip market but when his fortune is stolen by an unscrupulous prostitute (Cara Delivigne) he is conscripted into the navy.  Sophia and Maria's stories converge in a ridiculous plot twist and the ending is anything but satisfying.  This movie is beautiful with gorgeous period costumes and lighting straight out of a Vermeer painting.  However, there are so many things wrong.  The story is convoluted but, even worse, it is also totally implausible, especially one plot element that defies common sense.  I didn't understand any of the characters' motivations.  Christoph Waltz usually plays such a good villain but in this movie his character is almost benign so I didn't understand Sophia's desperation to escape from Cornelis.  Sophia and Jan barely speak five words to each other before they are in bed together so I didn't really buy their relationship.  I also didn't understand Sophia's choice at the end of the movie.  What a letdown after everything the characters have been through!  The tone of this movie is also quite strange.  It is supposed to be a tense and compelling drama but there are some odd comedic elements, especially regarding a "little soldier" in some of the strangest sex scenes I've ever seen.  I also found the scenes where the tulips are bought and sold, which should be fraught with tension because of the consequences for the characters, to be incredibly boring.  It was a bit disappointing and I recommend giving it a miss.

Braves!

It was a hot one yesterday but we couldn't miss seeing Sean and the rest of the Bountiful Braves play the Alta Hawks!  I saw a lot of improvement in the Braves this week but this game ended much like the one they played last week.  The Hawks scored four unanswered touchdowns and then at the end of the game the Braves got a dramatic touchdown to spoil the shutout.  I'm really proud of Sean because this week he didn't let his frustrations get the better of him and he didn't give up!

They'll get the next game!

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

I will be honest and say that last week was really rough.  After a great first week things deteriorated rapidly with lots of schedule changes, an incredibly disorganized picture schedule (which always involves the English teachers), and spotty internet connectivity throughout the whole district.  The only thing that got me through was knowing that I had a screening of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (it is being screened for a limited engagement in honor of its 40th Anniversary) to look forward to on Friday night!  I vividly remember watching this movie in the theater when I was a kid (in fact, I remember being fairly obsessed with it) so it was an absolute thrill to be able to see it again on the big screen.   I'm sure that nostalgia played a big part in my reaction but I loved this movie about a group of people who have an encounter with a UFO and the government's attempts to cover it up just as much as I did when I was an impressionable nine year old.  Most of the narrative involves a select group of people, including Roy (Richard Dreyfuss) and Jillian (Melinda Dillon) among others, who are inexplicably drawn to Devil's Tower in Wyoming after their encounter.  It turns out that Devil's Tower is a coordinate broadcast by aliens to a group of scientists, including Claude Lacombe (Francois Truffaut), after they communicate with them through musical tones (those five iconic notes).  The final encounter with the UFO at Devil's Tower is just as epic as I remember it and, in my opinion, the special effects hold up very well after 40 years.  Even after seeing so many other alien movies, I was still absolutely spellbound.  What I like best about this encounter is that almost everyone reacts with awe rather than fear.  It is just so magical!   Once again, I was fascinated by Truffaut's portrayal of Lacombe and I can't really explain why other than to say that this movie was my first introduction to him (my Dad had to tell me that he was a famous director) and I also absolutely loved Barry's (Cary Guffey) wide-eyed wonder when he looks at the UFOs.  It is an amazing movie and I highly recommend seeing it on the big screen!

Note:  I was so obsessed with this movie I actually requested that my parents take me on a road trip to Devil's Tower when I was in high school.  It is a seriously cool place!

Team Captain

I loved watching my nephew play football last year!  It was such a fun fall activity for my whole family to wake up early on a Saturday to watch Sean play and then go to breakfast afterwards.  Sean had his first game of the season last Saturday against the Tooele Buffaloes and this year he is one of the team captains!  He gets to lead the team out onto the field and he leads the team in their pre-game warmup.   He takes this responsibility very seriously!  I think Sean is a really good player and I think rugby has done a lot to boost his confidence.  Unfortunately, the Bountiful Braves lost this game.  The Buffaloes scored four unanswered touchdowns and Sean was quite frustrated; in fact, the coach pulled him out of the game (he plays both offense and defense so this was one of the only times he wasn't on the field) for a few minutes to give him some encouragement.

Late in the fourth quarter, the Braves were able to score a really pretty touchdown so they felt better about the game.  The team has a lot of potential and I think they will get better.  I am really looking forward to spending my Saturdays watching Sean and the Braves this fall!

Note:  Sean is a year older so he plays an hour later than last year!  Hooray!

Castle in the Sky

Last night I met my friend to see Castle in the Sky, the next film in the Studio Ghibli Fest, and it is absolutely amazing.  It is very different from the other films I've seen in this series because it is an epic adventure filled with imagination and emotion and I will probably be thinking about it for a long time to come.  It involves a quest for a mysterious and powerful floating island called Laputa (there is also a flying island named Laputa in Gulliver's Travels) by pirates who seek it for treasure, by a Colonel and his army who want to use its power to control the world, and by a young girl who has a glowing pendant, passed down through the generations of her family, that seems to lead to Laputa.  She is aided by a young miner who rescues her and together they must decide the fate of Laputa.  The characters go from one adventure to the next and I was simply blown away by the imaginative world-building.  It is all so fantastical and I was captivated by the storytelling.  I loved the two main characters of Sheeta and Pazu because they are very determined and resourceful and their relationship with each other is so pure.  But more than that, the two of them are so brave, especially in a powerful and emotional scene where they make a decision about Laputa.  I was quite fascinated by the unusual technology, especially all of the flying machines and the machines used in the mine.  I'll say it again.  Hayao Miyazaki has an impressive imagination.  The music used in the film is fantastic, ranging from choral pieces, to beautiful and atmospheric melodies (I loved the harp), to pulse-pounding beats to heighten the tension.  Finally, I think my very favorite aspect of this film is the color palette.  I loved the use of blue, turquoise, green, and purple to represent the power of the pendant.  I cannot recommend this film enough!  I am starting to understand why people are such fans of anime.  I never knew that cartoons could be so powerful!