Monster Hunter

I thought my nephew, an avid gamer, would want to see Monster Hunter with me since it is based on a popular video game but, apparently, he thinks the game is really stupid so he declined my offer.  He gave me a very detailed explanation of why he doesn't like it but, frankly, I didn't understand most of what he told me and I thought the movie sounded interesting so I saw it last night.  I should have listened to him.  A group of U.S. Army Rangers led by Captain Artemis (Milla Jovovich) go in search of a missing unit in the desert.  A sand and lightening storm transports them to another world where they find what is left of the missing unit and then what killed them.  After an intense battle with a giant monster, Artemis is the only member of her unit to survive.  Soon she encounters a mysterious Hunter (Tony Jaa) and, after they realize that they are allies rather then enemies, they join together to fight one of the biggest monsters.  Up to this point, I was willing to suspend my disbelief and just go with what was happening even though there was very little exposition, character development, or plot because I liked the goofy camaraderie between the Ranger and the Hunter (who do not speak the same language) and I liked the fact that it takes both her advanced weapons and his more primitive ones to defeat the monster.  I also liked the design of the monsters and the action sequences are a lot of fun even if the editing is a bit choppy.  However, in the third act everything goes off the rails when the two of them meet the Admiral (Ron Perlman) and his band of pirates (and a cat that acts like a human!) who were also transported to this alternate world in the prologue.  He provides a bit of an explanation and then they all embark on a mission to get Artemis back home which necessitates fighting another terrifying monster.  The tone is so wacky in this act that it seems like an entirely different movie (I rolled my eyes when the cat made an appearance because it seems so out of place).  The final action sequence (with the coolest monster in the movie) ends so abruptly that it is obvious the filmmakers are trying to set up a possible sequel but let's hope it doesn't come to that!  I can definitely enjoy an escapist action movie as much as the next person but this is just so bad (people in my screening were laughing out loud by the end of it).  I will never doubt my nephew again!

Gingerbread Houses 2020

On the Sunday before Christmas Marilyn and I have a tradition of making gingerbread houses with Sean and Tashena so that is what we did last night.  This is so much fun because we always have a few mishaps and we usually eat more candy than we put on our houses!

My house sort of turned into a Peppermint Palace.

Tashena meticulously piped all of the snowflakes on her house and I think it turned out so beautiful.

Sean just does his own thing and I love it!

I love the snow on Marilyn's house.

Our Gingerbread Village!

I love how they all turned out this year!

We Need a Lot of Christmas Concert at CPT

For the second weekend in a row I found myself at CenterPoint Theatre for a Christmas-themed program! Last night, twelve incredibly talented performers, including Sterling Allen, Darin J. Beardall, Daylen Bills, Paul Dixon, Emily Erdman, Annie Ferrin, Kyra Furman, Mailee Halpin, Michael Hernandez, Isaac Larsen, Kacee Neff, and Jana Plowman, presented an evening of Christmas songs from Broadway and the silver screen. As someone who absolutely loves hearing Christmas music performed live, I thoroughly enjoyed this concert! The program included "Spirit of the Season" from The Polar Express, "We Need A Little Christmas" from Mame, "It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas" from Miracle on 34th Street, "12 Days to Christmas" from She Loves Me, "Somewhere In My Memory" from Home Alone, "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" from How The Grinch Stole Christmas, "Snow" from White Christmas, "Silver Bells" from The Lemon Drop Kid, "Christmas Is My Favorite Time Of Year" from Catch Me If You Can, "The Christmas Song" from Jingle All The Way, "One More Sleep 'Til Christmas" and "It Feels Like Christmas" from The Muppet Christmas Carol, "A Christmas Song" from Elf, "New Deal For Christmas" from Annie, "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" from Meet Me In St. Louis, "Happy Holidays" and "Holiday Inn" from Holiday Inn, and "White Christmas" from White Christmas. The stage was decorated like a winter wonderland with pine trees and giant snow flakes, the costumes had a very retro feel with lots of plaid and cardigan sweaters, and every number was creatively staged to mimic its counterpart from the stage and screen with the addition of a few props and a bit of choreography. My favorite numbers were "12 Days to Christmas," which added three tables filled with perfume to represent Maraczek's Parfumerie and manic choreography featuring customers trying to do their last-minute Christmas shopping (I absolutely love this show), "One More Sleep 'Til Christmas" and "It Feels Like Christmas," because they featured puppets (the children sitting in front of me lost their minds when they started singing), and "White Christmas," because it concluded the concert with snow falling on the stage and an audience sing-along just like in the movie (one of my favorites). The entire show had the feel of a performing arts Christmas program at a local high school in a small town where everyone in the community attends and I really loved that. It provided a bit of nostalgic Christmas cheer at a time when we could all really use it! Unfortunately, last night was the final performance of this show.

Tarzan at HCT

HCT's 2013 production of Tarzan, with Derek Smith in the title role, was the first time I saw the popular Disney musical. I absolutely loved it so I was really excited to see their latest production, especially on the new stage, yesterday afternoon. I was also thrilled to learn that Smith was reprising his role as Tarzan! This musical tells the well-known story by Edgar Rice Burroughs about a human boy who is adopted by a group of apes after his parents are killed in the African jungle. Kerchak (Preston Taylor), the leader of a tribe of gorillas, is not happy when his wife Kala (Beatriz Melo) adopts the boy Tarzan (Toby Worland) because he thinks he doesn't belong. Tarzan struggles to keep up with the rest of the tribe until he is befriended by Terk (Caleb Hafen) who shows him how to be a gorilla.  When Tarzan teaches Terk how to make a spear for picking fruit, Kerchak is frightened that Tarzan will hurt the other gorillas and exiles him. Tarzan is distraught and wonders where he really belongs so Kala decides to stay with him. Years go by and Tarzan (Smith) is welcomed back into the tribe after he kills a leopard that has been terrorizing them for years. However, when Professor Porter (Mark Pulham) and his daughter Jane (Sophia Guerrero) bring an expedition to the jungle, Kerchak worries that Tarzan's interactions with the humans, especially Jane, will bring harm to the tribe. When Clayton (Josh Durfey), a member of the expedition, threatens the gorillas Tarzan must decide whether he belongs with Jane and the humans or with his adopted family. This show is a dazzling spectacle and I loved everything about it! Smith is an incredibly charismatic and athletic Tarzan (at one point he is swinging on a vine that he is holding on to with just one arm) but he can also really sing! My favorite song in the show is "Strangers Like Me" and Smith's rendition of it in the 2013 production is what made me a fan of this musical. I basically sat through the whole first half anticipating this number and it definitely did not disappoint. It gave me goosebumps! Smith also just about blows the roof off the theater with his version of "Everything That I Am." Guerrero is charmingly dorky as Jane, especially when she first meets Tarzan and is trying to hide the fact that she finds him attractive. I really enjoyed her performance of the songs "Waiting For This Moment" and "For The First Time" because she is so full of wonder (for the flora and fauna and then for Tarzan, respectively). I think my favorite performance in the show is Hafen as Terk. He is so full of goofy enthusiasm that he brought a smile to my face (under my mask) every time he was on stage. I loved his rendition of "Who Better Than Me" because he has such great facial expressions. He also got the audience cheering out loud during "Trashin' The Camp." Other standouts in the cast include Melo as Kala, because her version of "You'll Be In My Heart" is very affecting, and Worland as the young Tarzan, because he is adorable and gives such a heartfelt performance of "I Need to Know." The aerialists in this show are amazing and I almost missed the adult Tarzan's dramatic entrance in "Son of Man" because I was paying so much attention to the flying gorillas! I did miss a key moment between Tarzan and Jane because I was fascinated by the aerialists in the flowers during "Waiting For This Moment." I loved the costumes, the set pieces that come down from the ceiling and up from the pit, and the dramatic fluorescent lighting. This is such a great production and I am so grateful that HCT added some afternoon performances so that I could see it! There are a few tickets available for shows later in the run (go here) and I highly recommend getting one!

Fiddler on the Roof

Even though I recently saw the movie version of Fiddler on the Roof on one of my streaming platforms (I can't remember which one), I couldn't miss out on an opportunity to see it on the big screen last night because I love it so much!  Tevye (Topol) is a poor Jewish milkman living in the small village of Anatevka in Imperial Russia with his wife Golde (Norma Crane) and five daughters.  He clings to his traditions to help him deal with the hardships of life but his daughters Tzeitel (Rosalind Harris), Hodel (Michele Marsh), and Chava (Neva Small) challenge those traditions by choosing to marry Motel (Leonard Frey), Perchik (Paul Michael Glaser), and Fyedka (Raymond Lovelock), respectively, without a matchmaker.  Watching this movie makes me so happy and I eagerly anticipate all of my favorite songs, especially "Tradition," "Matchmaker, Matchmaker," "If I Were a Rich Man," "Sabbath Prayer," "Sunrise, Sunset," "Far From the Home I Love," and "Anatevka."  I tried really hard, unsuccessfully, not to sing along!  The choreography is fantastic and I really love the Russian dance in "To Life," the bottle dance during the wedding, and the ballet sequence in "Chavaleh" but my very favorite production number is "Tevye's Dream" because I once played Fruma-Sarah and it is always fun to see her!  I'm pretty sure that I sang every word with Ruth Madoc!  I always really enjoy Topol's portrayal of Tevye because he imbues the role with quite a bit of humor, especially with his conversations with God and his interactions with Golde (the scene where he wants to see Motel's sewing machine kills me every time), but he also shows vulnerability when he rejects Chava.  I also really like Frey because he is so adorably dorky as Motel, particularly in the song "Miracle of Miracles."  I have seen this movie dozens of times but last night I was struck by the fact that all of Tevye's clothes are threadbare, even the coat he wears at the wedding.  I have never noticed that before (probably because I've never seen it on such a big screen).  I also noticed that the shot composition in "Tradition" is mirrored in "Anatevka" which I think is really effective.  I don't think I will ever get tired of seeing this movie (or the stage musical, for that matter) and I highly recommend seeing it as part of the TCM Big Screen Classics series (go here for information and tickets).

Note:  I have really enjoyed the TCM Big Screen Classics series this year (I went to as many of them as I could).  The selections for next year have been announced and are as follows:  The Maltese Falcon, Boyz n the Hood, The Ten Commandments, La Bamba, Fried Green Tomatoes, The Birdcage, The African Queen, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Citizen Kane, The Silence of the Lambs, West Side Story, and On Golden Pond.  I think I am most looking forward to The Maltese Falcon and The Ten Commandments.  Are you looking forward to any of these movies?