South Pacific

I think "Some Enchanted Evening" is one of the most romantic songs, ever.  Hearing it under any circumstance is enough to make me swoon but hearing it yesterday while watching the movie South Pacific on the big screen was simply amazing!  It is such a treat to see all of the old favorites I remember watching at my Grandma Anderson's house on the big screen!  Set on an island in the Pacific during World War II, South Pacific tells the epic love story between Nellie Forbush (Mitzi Gaynor), a navy nurse, and Emile de Becque (Rossano Brazzi), a wealthy French plantation owner with a past that threatens their romance.  When de Breque volunteers for a dangerous mission, Nellie realizes the only important thing is their love.  There is also a secondary story between Lieutenant Joe Cable (John Kerr) and a beautiful Polynesian girl (France Nuyen) as well as a group of Seabees, led by Luther Billis (Ray Walston), who provide lots of comic relief.  With so many wonderful Rodgers and Hammerstein songs, including "There Is Nothing Like a Dame," "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair," "I'm In Love with a Wonderful Guy," "Happy Talk," and "Honey Bun," this movie has a fun and lighthearted tone but it deals with serious issues and the message of acceptance is an important one.  This movie is so beautiful (although there are some weird color filters in some of the musical numbers).  I especially loved the scenes on Bali Ha'i because it really is a paradise.  Gaynor is delightful as Nellie Forbush and Brazzi is handsome and charming as de Becque.  Even though most of the singing voices are dubbed I really enjoyed all of the performances, especially "Some Enchanted Evening" and "Younger than Springtime."  I love these old fashioned musicals so much and I'm glad that TCM shows them on the big screen.

Amy Grant at the Sandy Amphitheater

It may surprise some of you to learn that for a time in my early twenties I was really, really into Christian rock.  One of my roommates when I was a counselor at a summer camp in college played Christian music all of the time and I gradually came to love it, especially Amy Grant!  I think I listened to her album The Collection non-stop for almost a year and I particularly loved the song "Everywhere I Go" because it made me feel like God was always with me no matter what I was doing or what I believed.  I still feel the same way about that song to this day.  When Amy Grant gained more mainstream popularity, everyone in my family became fans and we have seen her in concert together several times, including a concert at Abravanel Hall that was amazing!  My Mom, my sister Marilyn, and I were able to see her again at the Sandy Amphitheater last night and we enjoyed it so much!  Luckily she played "Everywhere I Go" early on in the show and it was such a wonderful experience to hear it live!  She played for almost 90 minutes straight and included a really nice selection of her hits: "Find A Way," "Big Yellow Taxi," "Saved By Love," "Takes A Little Time," "That's What Love Is For," "Baby Baby," "Lucky One," "Every Heartbeat," "Our Time Is Now," "House of Love," and "Better Than a Hallelujah."  In the middle of her set she played acoustic versions of "El-Shaddai" and "Thy Word" which were absolutely lovely.  She closed the concert with covers of "Turn! Turn! Turn!" by the Byrds and "Put a Little Love In Your Heart" which got the audience up and dancing.  For the encore she sang a touching version of "I Will Remember You."  She was so down to earth and told lots of anecdotes between every song.  She was really excited for the full moon and told the audience to let her know when it came up from behind the mountains.  She was ecstatic when the crowd pointed it out to her and told us that we should all take a moment to appreciate it!  I love her!  Marilyn and I sang just about every word (we also sang her songs at the top of our lungs on the drive home) and my Mom had a huge smile on her face through the whole show.  It was a perfect summer night and a wonderful concert!

Papillon

I haven't seen the 1973 movie Papillon starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman but I went to see the remake last night.  This movie tells the incredible true story of Henri "Papillon" Charierre (Charlie Hunnam), a safecracker in Paris during the 1930s who is framed for murder and sentenced to a penal colony in French Guiana.  He immediately decides to try to escape, despite the threat of solitary confinement, and forms an alliance with Louis Dega (Rami Malek), a wealthy convicted forger.  Dega, who is mild-mannered and weak, offers to finance his escape in return for protection and Papillon must go to great lengths to keep him safe.  Conditions are brutal and, after several failed attempts to gain their freedom, they are finally transferred to Devil's Island from which escape seems impossible.  What elevates this movie from the standard tale of survival is the unlikely bond of friendship between the two men.  Papillon is often punished for fighting while defending Dega from attacks, suffers intense deprivation while in solitary confinement because of him, and is captured again because he will not leave him behind.  After all of that, Dega provides Papillon with the will to survive after he arrives on Devil's Island a broken man.  I found the relationship between the two men to be very compelling and both Hunnam and Malek give great performances.  The action is intense and harrowing and, while some of the scenes are difficult to watch, I don't think the violence is especially gratuitous and the cinematography is surprisingly beautiful in its brutality.  Since I've not seen the original, I can't speak to how this one compares but I think it is pretty good and I recommend it.

2001: A Space Odyssey

Since 2001: A Space Odyssey was released the year I was born, I have never had the opportunity to see this groundbreaking movie on the big screen...until now!  It is being re-released in theaters in glorious 70mm film in honor of its 50th anniversary and I had the chance to see it last night.  Millions of years ago in Africa, a group of apes discovers an otherworldly black monolith which seemingly directs them to use the bones of a dead animal as a weapon which gives them an advantage over a rival group of apes.  Millions of years later a group of astronauts discovers this same black monolith on the moon.  It produces a strange frequency which leads them to send an expedition to Jupiter.  During this expedition the ship's computer, HAL 9000, tries to sabotage the mission but eventually the final remaining crewmember, David Bowman (Keir Dullea), reaches Jupiter.  After traveling through strange cosmic phenomena, Bowman finds himself in a Neoclassical bedroom where he lives out the rest of his life.  As he lays dying, he sees the black monolith and is transformed into a fetus which then returns to the Earth.  What is the monolith?  I think that everyone who watches this film will have a different interpretation and I think screenwriters Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke intended it thus.  In my opinion, the monolith represents man's evolutionary journey.  When the apes begin using the bone as a weapon, it gives them a distinct advantage, access to the waterhole, which sets in motion the evolution from ape to man.  Man eventually reaches for the stars and evolves into a spaceman.  A spaceman travels to a higher level of consciousness and evolves into the Star Child which then travels back to Earth to bring about a rebirth (the ending is ambiguous but that is my interpretation).  Seeing this on an IMAX screen with Dolby sound was absolutely incredible because, more than anything, this movie is a visual and auditory experience which has been lacking in my viewings on TV, especially the journey through the Star Gate to Jupiter which made me feel like I was on a weird acid trip.  Whether you love it or hate it no one can deny the influence it has had on later movies, especially in the depiction of space travel, suspended animation, zero gravity, and artificial intelligence.  It is even more amazing when you consider that this movie was released before man reached the moon!  This is definitely one that should be seen on the big screen!

Note:  I cannot hear Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss without thinking of the opening sequence in this movie!  For a really long time I didn't know it was a piece of classical music.  I thought it was just part of the score!

Sam Smith at the Vivint Arena

I briefly considered the advisability of seeing a concert during the first week of school but I love Sam Smith so much that I decided to get a ticket any way!  I knew that I would be really tired today but the concert was so fabulous that it was worth it.  The stage was a large triangle that jutted out onto the floor and there were multiple platforms for his amazing band (not only were they great musicians but they also had some epic choreography, too) and back-up singers.  He entered and exited the stage through some of the platforms several times during the show (often when there was some misdirection going on with the large pyramid at the back of the stage).  I really enjoyed his interactions with the audience because he seemed so sincere and genuine!  I love him for the same reason that I love Adele.  He is unabashedly himself and he doesn't conform to anyone's stereotypes about what a pop star should be.  It also doesn't hurt that he can belt out a song, which he did all night to the delight of the crowd!  He sang quite a few of his hits including "I'm Not the Only One," which got the crowd singing, "Lay Me Down," "Nirvana," "I've Told You Now," "Latch," "Money on My Mind," and "Like I Can."  He also performed a dramatic rendition of "Writing's on the Wall" from the Bond movie Spectre with an extended piano and cello intro and, even though I don't really love that song, I loved his performance of it.  He devoted a large portion of his setlist to his latest album The Thrill of It All which made me very happy because I love this album even though, as he acknowledged, it is filled with very depressing songs!  He began the concert with "Burning," and continued with "One Last Song," "Say It First," "One Day at a Time," "Baby, You Make Me Crazy," "Midnight Train," my favorite song from the album, "HIM," with a great message about love, and "Too Good at Goodbyes," another favorite which ended the set.  For the encore, he sang "Palace," "Stay With Me," which definitely got the audience singing, and "Pray."  I loved this concert and I’m so glad that I decided to go!

Note:  Rather unusually, I didn't go to any concerts over the summer but I have quite a few coming up this fall!