The Lion King

When I saw the first trailer for the live action remake of The Lion King, I thought the images were absolutely stunning (they reminded me of the safaris I took in Africa) and I have been looking forward to seeing it all summer!  I dismissed the negative reviews as critics who are too attached to the narrative that Disney should not be remaking their animated classics to give the movie a chance and I fully expected to love it as I walked into the theater last night.  I didn't love it.  The script is very faithful to the 1994 version and includes an almost shot-for-shot recreation with photorealistic CGI.  To be sure, the images are absolutely beautiful and I really loved the opening scene when all of the animals assemble for the presentation of Simba (the baby elephants!) and when a piece of Simba's fur travels back to the Pride lands to give Rafiki proof that he is still alive.  The animals look incredibly life-like but when they talk and sing, which are human characteristics, their expressions are, well, lifeless.  The photorealistic CGI loses a lot of the emotion that the animated version, which is more anthropomorphic, has so it wasn't quite as magical as I thought it would be.  I also had problems with the pacing of this movie.  It seemed so much longer than the original and I found my mind wandering quite a bit.  It might be because everything is so similar to the original so I was anticipating everything that happened before it did.  Despite an all-star voice cast, I found the performances to be a bit bland because there is such a disconnect between the characters and the voices.  I hope that the Beyhive won't track me down and kill me but I thought that Beyonce was basically portraying herself.  I saw her every time she spoke rather than Nala.  I did, however, love her rendition of "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" with Donald Glover but it seemed more like a music video featuring documentary animal footage rather than a song sung by two lions falling in love with each other.  I also really liked her new song "Spirit."  An exception to the bland performances would be Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar because his portrayal is much more menacing than the campy villainy of Jeremy Irons and I really enjoyed his version of "Be Prepared" because there is a dangerous energy to it.  I really wanted to love it but, after so much anticipation, I was honestly a bit disappointed with this movie.  I recommend watching your VHS copy of the original, instead.

Summer Reading: The Witch Elm

The next selection on my summer reading list, The Witch Elm by Tana French, is an intense psychological character study that challenged me to think and that is the best kind of book, in my opinion! Toby Hennessy has always thought of himself as lucky. He is good-looking, intelligent, and charismatic enough to talk himself out of any tricky situation. He has a group of loyal friends, a devoted girlfriend, and a supportive extended family of means. However, after a night of drinking with his mates, his luck changes because he is attacked during a burglary attempt on his flat and suffers a catastrophic brain injury. He takes refuge at his family's ancestral home on the outskirts of Dublin with his uncle Hugo and cousins Leon and Susannah to care for him. While he is recuperating there, a body with connections to everyone in the house is found buried in the wych elm tree in the garden. As the murder is investigated, Toby comes to question everything he thought about himself, his family, and his upbringing. The narrative starts very slowly as Toby struggles to overcome the physical and psychological trauma he has endured but this becomes very relevant as the murder mystery unfolds. It was difficult to plod through the beginning but once the action gets going I was absolutely riveted. Toby is the ultimate unreliable narrator because his charmed existence made him oblivious to events surrounding the murder of his former classmate and his brain injury makes his own memories suspect. This adds greatly to the suspense. French's writing style, in this particular novel, is very cerebral with long meditative passages so it might not be for everyone. I enjoyed it because it made me think about how we view ourselves compared to how others view us, what role memory plays in our view of ourselves, and how our actions have consequences that reverberate far more than we imagine. It is a brilliant character study that takes some effort to get thorough but is ultimately worth the trouble.

Note:  Have you read The Witch Elm?  What did you think?

Detour to the Grand Canyon

Yesterday I decided to take the scenic route home from Phoenix which, ironically, is actually faster than driving on the freeway through Las Vegas.  I found myself on Highway 89 on the way to Page, Arizona when I started seeing signs for the Grand Canyon.  Even though I was really tired (I was too keyed up from the concert the night before to go to sleep) and eager to get home, I spontaneously took the exit to go to the South Rim!  I spent a little more than an hour there and I only visited the viewpoints near the East entrance (I knew from experience that they wouldn't be as crowded as other areas) but it was pretty spectacular!

The pictures don't really do justice to how amazing the canyon really is!  It is quite awe-inspiring!  Even though it added about two hours to the drive home, I'm really glad I decided to visit the Grand Canyon.  Unexpected detours like this are one of the reasons I love taking road trips!

Note:  My last visit to the Grand Canyon was not as pleasant.  Apparently, I used quite a bit of profanity while dealing with the large crowds and lack of parking (or so my nephew tells me frequently!)

Queen + Adam Lambert in Phoenix

When my madness over the movie Bohemian Rhapsody was at its apex, I found out that Queen + Adam Lambert would be touring this summer!  I actually deliberated about getting a ticket for a little while because I knew it wouldn't be the same without Freddie Mercury but I ultimately decided to see them in Phoenix (the city closest to me) because I knew I would love hearing these songs played live!  I am so glad that I did because the concert last night was absolutely epic!  The show began with "Now I'm Here," "Seven Seas of Rhye," "Keep Yourself Alive," "Hammer to Fall," and "Killer Queen" one after the other.  Then Adam Lambert, who was absolutely fantastic, told us that he was clearly not Freddie Mercury and that nobody could take his place but he would do the best he could to honor him and the music he created.  The audience went crazy and they were with him the rest of the night!  He was in full diva mode, wearing a gold suit and black ruffled blouse (the first of six outfits), saying that he might not be Freddie Mercury but he was definitely a queen!  He then sang "Don't Stop Me Now" which got the arena rocking!  Then he gave an incredible vocal performance for both "Somebody to Love" and "The Show Must Go On."  The latter gave me goosebumps!  Next Roger Taylor sang "I'm in Love With My Car" (It's a metaphor Brian!).  Adam returned to the stage in leather from head to toe on a motorcycle to sing "Bicycle Race" then sang "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Radio Ga Ga" with lots of audience participation with the claps!  One of my favorite moments of the evening happened when Brian May went to the end of the catwalk and played an acoustic version of "Love of My Life."  The audience held up the lights on their phones and sang along so it was very reminiscent of a scene in the movie.  It was simply magical!  Then he sang "'39" and was joined by Roger and Adam for "Doing All Right" with a lovely three-part harmony!  Adam sang "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and was joined by Roger for "Under Pressure" and then sang "I Want to Break Free."  Another favorite moment was during "Who Wants to Live Forever" because Adam sang it so beautifully that I had tears in my eyes!  Brian stood on a giant platform behind a screen which looked like a meteor surrounded by floating planets (he has a PhD in astrophysics) to play a guitar solo featuring Dvorak's New World Symphony.  It was amazing!  Adam came back to sing "Tie Your Mother Down" and then "Dragon Attack."  I was so excited that they played "Dragon Attack" because I had forgotten how much I used to love that song back in the day!  They finished their set with "Another One Bites the Dust," "I Want It All," and a very theatrical version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" which just about did me in!  Before the encore,  a video of Freddie leading the crowd through "Ay-Oh" during Queen's Wembley concert in 1986 appeared on the screen and we all joined in!  Of course they played "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" during the encore and they took their bows while "God Save the Queen" played!  This is a concert that I don't think I will ever forget and I am so glad I decided to get a ticket!  Even though it was a ten hour drive from SLC to Phoenix, it was definitely worth it!

Note:  I've driven to Phoenix just to see a concert once before but next time I think I'll fly!

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).