The Music of John Williams

Last night I went to my first Utah Symphony concert of the 2019-2020 season and I was so happy to be at Abravanel Hall after a long week!  This concert featured iconic film scores composed by John Williams and it was absolutely wonderful!  The orchestra began, rather appropriately, with Call of the Champions which was commissioned for the Opening Ceremonies for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.  John Williams actually conducted the Utah Symphony and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for the recording that was used in the Opening Ceremonies and it was so fun to hear it again.  Then the orchestra played the "Superman Theme" from Superman which I really enjoyed because I will be seeing the movie on the big screen in a few weeks.  Next came "Flight to Neverland" from Hook which was very stirring.  The movie A.I.: Artificial Intelligence is not one that I enjoy but "David's Theme" is quite poignant and I especially loved the solo cello in this piece.  Next came the Overture from The Cowboys which is a movie that I have never seen before but I really liked the music from it.  The highlight from the first half was a series of excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind because it is one of my favorite movies.  The music brilliantly portrays the feeling of amazement that the characters have over what they are seeing and I had goosebumps as the orchestra played it because I could see the UFOs landing in my mind!  Next came "The Devil's Dance" from The Witches of Eastwick and I especially liked the chimes!  The first half ended with "Raiders March" from Raiders of the Lost Ark and the rousing fanfare got the audience cheering!  After the intermission the orchestra played Liberty Fanfare which was commissioned to celebrate the Centennial of the Statue of Liberty in 1986.  It was also very stirring.  Next came the Suite from Far and Away which was very atmospheric.  Another highlight was the Theme from Schindler's List.  This piece is incredibly moving and Concertmaster Madeleine Adkins played the violin solo so beautifully that it brought a tear to my eye.  "Hedwig's Theme" and "Harry's Wondrous World" from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (another movie that I will see on the big screen in a few weeks) were a lot of fun.  I particularly liked the celesta used in these pieces.  Those two instantly recognizable notes played by the cellos in the Theme from Jaws are brilliant because they evoke a feeling of menace without actually showing the shark!  Another favorite from the evening was the Theme from Jurassic Park.  I love when scientists see the dinosaurs for the first time and I think the score really adds to that sense of wonder.  For the finale the orchestra played "Adventures on Earth" from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial which guest conductor Jack Everly, who told amusing anecdotes about each of the scores, revealed was John Williams' favorite of all his compositions.  I was so excited when the orchestra played "Darth Vader's Theme" from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back as an encore because it is always simultaneously thrilling and terrifying to me (I was so scared of Darth Vader when I was a child).  Hearing these scores brought back so many memories of watching these movies for the first time and I highly recommend getting a ticket to this concert when the program is repeated tonight (go here).

Downton Abbey

My Mom, my sisters, and I are huge fans of the PBS series Downton Abbey and we have been giddy with anticipation ever since we found out about the movie!  I actually binge-watched all six seasons again to prepare myself for it (yes, I am a nerd).  Last night the four of us had a girls night out to watch a Thursday preview and we all loved it!  Lord and Lady Grantham (Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern, respectively) are visited by King George V (Simon Jones) and Queen Mary (Geraldine James) when they stop at Downton Abbey as part of their royal tour of Yorkshire.  Chaos ensues!  Lady Mary Talbot (Michelle Dockery) is overwhelmed by the details of the visit and wonders if keeping Downton open is worth the effort in a changing world.  Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) is finding it difficult to adapt to her role as Marchioness of Hexham (I love it that Edith outranks everyone).  Tom (Allen Leech) puts his loyalty to the Crawley family to the test when he is inadvertently involved in an intrigue against the King.  Violet, the Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith), is up to her old tricks and plotting against the Queen's Lady-in-Waiting, Lady Bagshaw (Imelda Staunton).  Of course, Violet has some of the best dialogue in the movie ("Machiavelli is frequently underrated.").  My favorite part of the story is when the downstairs staff take great exception to the fact that the royal entourage has taken over Downton Abbey.  The Royal Page of the Backstairs (David Haig) has usurped Carson's (Jim Carter) authority, Monsieur Courbet (Philippe Spall) has taken over the kitchen from Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nichol), and Mrs. Webb (Richenda Carey) has relegated Mrs. Hughes (Phyllis Logan) to a mere bystander in the house.  Anna (Joanne Froggatt) comes up with a brilliant plan to help the staff resume their duties and to allow Mr. Molesley (Kevin Doyle) to serve the King and Queen at dinner (in the funniest scene in the movie).  I also enjoyed the opening credits because the bringing of the letter from Buckingham Palace to Downton mimics the bringing of the telegram about the Titanic in the very first episode.  I thought that was very clever.  I loved this movie so much because it was like watching an extended episode showing us what has happened to these beloved characters since they last appeared in our living rooms but with even more sumptuous production values (especially the costumes and jewelry) and beautiful cinematography.  Fans of the series are sure to love this movie (the rowdy crowd in our screening, many of whom were in 1920s period costumes, was very appreciative) but people who are not familiar with the show and characters may not enjoy it as much.

Note:  Our girls night out was so much fun!  We even got ice cream after the movie!

Brittany Runs a Marathon

Another movie that I absolutely loved at Sundance this year was Brittany Runs a Marathon (it won the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award) so I was very excited to see it again yesterday.  I loved it just as much, if not more, upon a second viewing.  Brittany Forgler (Jillian Bell) drinks too much, smokes too much, arrives late to her dead-end job every day, and has one night stands in bathroom stalls at clubs every night.  She is the life of the party but she doesn't have any real friends.  She pretends to have ADHD so a doctor will prescribe her Adderall but, instead, he gives her a wake-up call about her health and admonishes her to exercise and lose 50 pounds.  Because a gym is too expensive she challenges herself to run just one block (in an absolutely hilarious scene).  Soon she joins a Saturday running group, runs her first 5K, and trains for the New York Marathon.  What I loved about this movie is its authenticity because we see Brittany's setbacks as well as her triumphs.  Even though she loses weight and achieves many of her fitness goals, she must learn to love herself in order to be successful and that is what makes her story so meaningful to me.  Bell gives a fantastic performance as an unsympathetic character that you end up rooting for (I love movies that feature flawed characters finding redemption).  It is a feel-good movie that will have you laughing out loud but it is also quite heart-warming and I had tears in my eyes during an especially poignant scene.  This movie includes a bit of profanity and the realistic depiction of questionable behavior but it is so inspiring and I highly recommend it!

Eric Clapton in Las Vegas

Eric Clapton is arguably one of the greatest guitar players of all time so it is an absolute thrill to be able to see and hear him play live!  I've seen him a couple of times before but it has been a while.  When I found out that he would be in Las Vegas (for one of only three concerts leading up to the Crossroads Guitar Festival in Dallas) I got a ticket immediately!  I took the day off from school yesterday to drive to Vegas for the show last night and it was amazing.  He had a very minimal set and just played the blues all night.  I loved it!  He started the show with "Pretending" and the crowd went crazy!  I was unfamiliar with some of the other early songs (mostly covers) he played but it didn't matter because it was amazing to watch a legend jam.  One of the biggest highlights during this set was his version of "I Shot the Sheriff."  Then he played an acoustic set that included "Circus" from Pilgrim, an album that I absolutely love, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out," and a beautiful version of "Tears in Heaven."  When he plugged back in he played the Cream song "Badge," which was absolutely epic, and "Holy Mother," which was incredibly emotional.  Next, he played covers of Robert Johnson's "Crossroads" and "Little Queen of Spades" which featured extended solos by his unbelievably talented band!  He ended this set with "Layla" which got everybody on their feet!  I basically waited all night for this song and it definitely did not disappoint.  For the encore, he brought Jimmie Vaughan, who opened for him, back to the stage to perform a cover of "Before You Accuse Me."  It was an incredible evening of music and I can't even describe how much I loved watching Slowhand play the guitar!  I will be on a high for days!

Note:  I was hoping that he would play "Cocaine" but I didn't mind too terribly that he didn't because he actually played it twice the first time I saw him in concert!  The crowd went crazy when he played it the first time so he said, "You like that one, huh?"  Then he played it again!

Official Secrets

I had the chance to see Official Secrets at Sundance this year and it was one of my favorites of the festival.  I decided to see it again last night now that it is in wide release and, once again, I thought it was a taut and suspenseful political thriller.  It tells the true story of Katharine Gun (Keira Knightley), a translator at GCHQ (a British intelligence gathering agency) who leaks a top-secret memo from Frank Koza of the NSA asking for intelligence which could be used to blackmail smaller countries into voting for a U.N. resolution supporting the invasion of Iraq to the press in 2003.  Once the story is published in The Observer, she confesses and is charged with violating the Official Secrets Act.  She pleads not guilty and her lawyers argue that she acted to prevent the imminent loss of life from an illegal war, a defense which could potentially be embarrassing for the British government.  I found the story to be both fascinating and compelling because it profiles an ordinary woman willing to face extraordinary consequences in order to follow her conscience.  Knightley gives an absolutely riveting performance, especially in a powerful interrogation scene where she tells investigators that she doesn't work for the British government but for the British people who are being lied to by the government.  The movie also features an impressive all-star cast including Matt Smith, Matthew Goode, and Rhys Ifans as the reporters who break the story, Ralph Fiennes as a defense lawyer, and Jeremy Northam as a Crown prosecutor.  The movie is fraught with tension (even on a second viewing), particularly during a sequence surrounding the deportation of Gun's husband in retaliation for her actions.  I enjoyed this movie (again) and I recommend it highly.