Wild Rose

I didn't have a lot of interest in seeing the big new releases over the weekend so I opted, instead, for an independent film at my favorite art house theater.  I ended up seeing Wild Rose yesterday and I absolutely loved it!  Rose-Lynn Harlan (Jessie Buckley) is a working class Scottish girl who has recently been released from prison.  She is trying to reconnect with her two young children, Wynonna (Daisy Littlefield) and Lyle (Adam Mitchell), who barely know her but she also wants to pursue her dream of becoming a country singer in Nashville.  Her disapproving mother, Marion (Julie Walters), wants her to forget about her music and take responsibility for her life and children.  She gets a job as a cleaner for a bored and wealthy woman named Susannah (Sophie Okenedo) who likes her voice and attempts to help her but Rose must ultimately decide what is most important to her.  One of the things that I liked the most about this film is that, while it involves a flawed character finding redemption (one of my very favorite themes), Rose finds her redemption in an unexpected way which makes a familiar story fresh and engaging.  Buckley is absolutely riveting in the role (I loved her in last summer's Beast) and I was especially impressed with her singing because she really lights up the screen when she performs.  Her performance at the end of the film is so poignant that I actually had a tear in my eye.  I also really enjoyed Walters as a mother who wants her daughter to avoid the mistakes she made but doesn't want to take away her hope.  I am not a huge fan of country music but I really enjoyed the music of Patsy Cline, Wynonna Judd, Tricia Yearwood, Bonnie Raitt, and Kacey Musgraves used throughout.  This is a feel-good movie that I highly recommend with the proviso that there is a lot of profanity (it is set in Glasgow, after all).

A Drive-In Double Feature

Sean and I have a fun summer tradition of seeing a movie at the drive-in.  We have been doing this for a few years and it is so much fun!  I have very fond memories of going to the drive-in with my parents when I was a kid and I'm glad that I can take Sean to one of the few remaining drive-ins in the country!  Last night we picked Spider-Man: Far From Home and Men in Black: International then got drinks, treats, and a ginormous bag of popcorn (we didn't even eat one fourth of it).  Sean really liked Spider-Man: Far From Home and I liked it even better the second time!  I still laughed when Peter thinks "Back in Black" is by Led Zeppelin!  Sean fell asleep during Men in Black: International and, while I liked it the first time I saw it, I was pretty meh about it the second time around.  It was a really fun night (we didn't have any weirdos around us this time) and I recommend seeing a movie at the drive-in if you have the opportunity!

Note:  Whenever I would go to the drive-in with my parents, I would try so hard to stay awake for the second feature but I would almost always fall asleep (like Sean did).  To this day, I have no idea how the movie Murder By Death ends!

Hanna Camping Trip 2019

My sister and her husband keep their trailer at a campsite near Hanna for the whole month of July.  They spend the Fourth, Pioneer Day (a holiday in Utah), and every weekend there.  They let family and friends stay there during the week and I always try to take advantage of that opportunity because I love it there!  It is beautiful and peaceful.  I was there most of the week and I spent my time reading and relaxing!

Every night I would make a big fire (my brother-in-law cut me a ton of wood from his property nearby) and sit near it until it got dark.  Sitting by a fire is probably my favorite part of camping.  I also made s'mores!

In the evening I would get in bed and read while listening to the river (it was running really high so I could hear it at night when the camp was quiet).  It was a peaceful way to go to sleep!

On my last night a big storm came through the campsite and it was actually quite relaxing to sit in the trailer and listen to the rain!

I had a wonderful time up in the mountains and I'm so glad that my sister and her husband let me spend a week in their trailer every year!

2018

2017

Summer Reading: Sometimes I Lie

I have a confession. I read every book on my summer reading list within the first three weeks of summer break! I have really enjoyed having uninterrupted time for reading and I have been staying up way too late (it's nice that I don't have to get up at the crack of dawn for school). When I started to write this review for Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney (which I finished weeks ago), I could not remember a single detail about the plot and I had to find a summary online to remind myself about it. That says all you need to know about this book! Amber is in a medically induced coma after a catastrophic car accident which she cannot remember. Even though she is paralyzed, she can hear voices all around her, including her husband Paul and her sister Claire, as she tries to piece together what happened to her. The narrative alternates between when Amber is in a coma, the events leading up to the accident which suggest that her relationship with her husband is troubled, and diary entries from her childhood which suggest that her relationship with her sister is troubled. Amber is an incredibly unreliable narrator so it is very suspenseful trying to figure out what happened to her.  Feeney also does a very good job of portraying Amber's claustrophobia at being trapped inside her own head. However, I did not enjoy the diary entries because I thought they were quite boring. They involve a huge plot twist that seemed to come out of nowhere and I had a very hard time suspending my disbelief for it. After this revelation and the events that follow, both Amber and Claire become very unsympathetic and I wondered why I bothered to care about either of them. There is an incredibly ambiguous ending which contradicts previous events so it is included merely for shock value. I hate it when authors throw in twists just for the sake of having a twist.  I found this book to be very unsatisfying and, obviously, forgettable.

Note:  Have you read Sometimes I Lie?  What did you think?

My Fair Lady at CPT

Last night I went with my Mom and both of my sisters to see My Fair Lady at CenterPoint Theatre and all four of us had so much fun (especially my Mom). This production is loverly! When Professor Henry Higgins (Andrew Heyward) and Colonel Pickering (Kevin Burtenshaw) encounter a flower girl named Eliza Doolittle (Sarah Jane Watts) outside Covent Garden,  Higgins boasts that he could pass her off as a Duchess at the Embassy Ball within six months by teaching her to speak properly! Even though Eliza is a success at the Embassy Ball, she becomes a true lady when Higgins treats her like one. I was really impressed with the cast of this show. I am always amazed at the caliber of the talent that CPT is able to recruit because it is a community theatre and the actors are all volunteers. Watts is a delightful Eliza and her renditions of "Just You Wait," "Show Me," and "Without You" are feisty while "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" and "I Could Have Danced All Night" are incredibly joyful. I loved Heyward's characterization of the curmudgeonly Higgins. His inflections are hilarious, especially in "Why Can't The English?," "I'm an Ordinary Man," and "A Hymn to Him." His version of "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" is so poignant that it brought a tear to my eye. My favorite actor in this show was Christian Lackman as Freddy Eynsford-Hill because he has a beautiful voice but he is also so funny. I always think that "On the Street Where You Live" is incredibly romantic but Lackman is absolutely twitterpated. His facial expressions made me laugh out loud. The choreography is a lot of fun, especially in "With a Little Bit of Luck" and "Get Me to the Church," and I loved it when Eliza dips Freddy in "Show Me." The set for Higgins' study is pretty spectacular, particularly the spiral staircase to the second level. Finally, the costumes are amazing! The black and white gowns in the "Ascot Gavotte" are quite elaborate and Eliza's gown at the Embassy Ball is simply stunning. Every aspect of this production is superb and I highly recommend it (go here to purchase tickets) but it closes on Saturday so you need to hurry!

Note: I have had lots of opportunities to see My Fair Lady this year!  I saw the Academy Award-winning film adaptation as part of the TCM Big Screen Classics series and I saw the concert version performed by the Utah Symphony.