Red Joan

I am a fan of espionage movies and of Judi Dench so Red Joan has been on my radar for the last few weeks.  I had the chance to see it last night and I had a somewhat mixed reaction to it.  Joan Stanley (Dench) is an 80-year-old woman who likes to potter in her suburban garden when she is arrested by the Special Branch for violating the Official Secrets Act.  She is accused of giving vital information to the Soviet Union which hastened their development of an atomic bomb after World War II.  As she is interrogated, there are flashbacks to her time as a brilliant physics student at Cambridge University during the war.  Young Joan (Sophie Cookson) becomes involved with radical politics when she meets Sonya (Tereza Srbova) and Leo (Tom Hughes), who are both Communists.  She and Leo become lovers and, when she gets a job with a top-secret group of British scientists working on nuclear fission, he eventually recruits her as a KGB agent run by Sonya.  The action moves very, very slowly (there were many times when my mind wandered) and having the narrative move back and forth between the past and the present removes a lot of the tension that a traditional espionage thriller might inherently have.  Judi Dench is given very little to do but stare off into space as she remembers her past.  Her talents are definitely wasted in this role.  However, I really liked young Joan's character arc.  She naively falls for the dashing Leo and succumbs to his charms every time he comes back into her life but she ultimately realizes that he is using her and in the end she uses him for her own idealistic motives.  Cookson gives a great performance that is incredibly thought-provoking and Hughes is so charismatic, especially during a speech he gives at a rally (you can totally see why Joan falls under his spell).  Despite an interesting premise and some good performances, the pacing, structure, and lack of intrigue make this a bit underwhelming.

Steel Magnolias

Yesterday I saw Steel Magnolias, the next movie in the TCM Big Screen Classics series, and it was a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  This movie tells the touching story of how a group of friends, M'Lynn Eatenton (Sally Field), Shelby Eatenton (Julia Roberts), Truvy Jones (Dolly Parton), Annelle Dupuy (Daryl Hannah), Clairee Belcher (Olympia Dukakis), and Louisa "Ouiser" Boudreaux (Shirley McLaine), support each other through life's triumphs and tragedies in a small Louisiana town.  It is as funny as it is poignant because the women spend much of their time gossiping in Truvy's beauty salon and my audience laughed out loud through much of it.  My favorite line is when Ouiser says, "I'm not crazy M'Lynn.  I've just been in a very bad mood for forty years!"  All of the actresses give outstanding performances, particularly Field during a very dramatic moment, but I really enjoyed Tom Skerritt as Drum Eatenten because he is so goofy.  The movie was filmed in Natchitoches, Louisiana and I loved all of the stately old homes and gardens.  The production design is a lot of fun, especially all of the blush and bashful pink used for Shelby's wedding, and the 90s fashions are fabulous, especially the bridesmaid dresses.  I enjoyed watching this movie as much as I did the first time I saw it on the big screen thirty years ago and I highly recommend it (go here for more information).

Copland's Appalachian Spring & Billy the Kid

Last night I went to a lovely Utah Symphony concert with my friend Angela.  I didn't pick this concert when I was creating my season package but I've had my eye on it.  When my friend suggested that we get tickets I immediately said yes and I am so glad that I did because I enjoyed the performance so much!  The orchestra began with the Orchestral Suite from Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland.  I always enjoy hearing this piece, especially the variations on the Quaker hymn "Simple Gifts" which is first developed by a solo clarinet and then repeated by various instruments.  Then the orchestra was joined by soloist James Ehnes for Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra by Max Bruch.  I had never heard this piece before but I really loved it.  I found it to be incredibly passionate and just a little bit mournful.  Ehnes performed it brilliantly, almost making his violin sing as it soared to loftier and loftier heights.  He was rewarded with an instant standing ovation and he favored the crowd with an encore.  After the intermission, the orchestra performed a new piece called Transcend by Zhou Tian which was commissioned to commemorate the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, which linked the U.S. from east to west for the first time, 150 years ago.  I liked it, especially when the instruments mimicked the sound of the Morse code in the telegraph that was sent when the railroad was complete.  The concert concluded with Copland's Orchestral Suite from Billy the Kid.  My favorite part of this piece was "Running Gun Battle," which represents Billy the Kid's ambush by Sheriff Pat Garrett, because it features very dramatic percussion!  This will surely be one of my favorite Utah Symphony concerts this season and I am so glad my friend suggested it!

Note:  After listening to Transcend last night and attending the Utah Symphony and Tabernacle Choir performance last week, both of which commemorated the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, I really want to visit the Golden Spike Historic Site!

A Champion

This weekend Tashena competed at the Utah State UHSAA Track and Field Championships at BYU.  On Thursday she competed in the javelin and ended taking ninth place with a throw of 100.01.  She had not competed in javelin all year but her coach asked her to throw at the Region competition to get Bountiful more points.  She ended up getting third place and qualifying for state!  I think placing ninth is absolutely amazing!  Yesterday she competed in discus and ended up taking fourth place with a throw of 115.11.  I know it is not the finish she wanted but I am, and always will be, so proud of her.  She is a champion!

Rainout!

Sean and I have been having really bad luck with the Salt Lake Bees!  We always like to go to a few games during the season so we picked one a few weeks ago and made plans to go.  When I went to get tickets online I discovered that it was an early afternoon game and we couldn't go.  Sean was disappointed but I promised him we would go during the next homestand.  We got tickets to see the Bees play the Las Vegas Aviators last night and, even though rain was in the forecast, the skies were blue so we decided to go.

It was cold so, of course, I had to buy Sean a hoodie!  He picked a really nice one.  As we sat there, the clouds got darker and darker and I told Sean that we could leave any time he wanted if he got too cold.  We usually get ice cream during the bottom of the fifth inning and Sean was afraid that we wouldn't make it that long so he asked me if we could get some before the game started.  This made me laugh!

It was so cold but he still wanted ice cream because it is tradition!  As soon as I said that I thought it wouldn't rain, it started sprinkling!  Sean said that I jinxed it.  We decided to wait it out but then it started coming down really hard with thunder and lightning.  I wanted to wait until the game was called so we could get free tickets to another game but then I saw that Sean was shivering so I decided we should go.  By the time we made it to the car, the game had been called so, hopefully, we can try for another game soon!  Even though we didn't actually get to see any baseball it was still a lot of fun!