Ariadne

My Book of the Month selection for May was Ariadne by Jennifer Saint (the other options were Things We Lost to the Water by Eric Nguyen, How Lucky by Will Leitch, The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave, and Imposter Syndrome by Kathy Wang). I was so excited to read this novel because, with the name Phaedra, I have always been fascinated by Greek mythology in general and King Minos' daughters in particular and I simply couldn't resist a story about Ariadne, Phaedra, Theseus, and the Minotaur! Princess Ariadne of Crete is subject to the tyrannical whims of her father King Minos and she witnesses firsthand how her mother Pasiphae is capriciously punished by the gods for the king's hubris. She is determined to live her life on her own terms rather than as a pawn of men or the gods so, when Prince Theseus of Athens comes to Crete as one of the tributes to be fed to the Minotaur in the Labyrinth below the palace, Ariadne makes the dangerous decision to betray her father and help him as a way to avoid an arranged marriage. However, this decision has unforeseen consequences for both her and for her sister Phaedra. Even though Ariadne falls under the spell of the god Dionysus after being betrayed by Theseus and is powerless to stop her sister Phaedra from being torn between Theseus and his son Hippolytus, she ultimately finds the courage to demand a future for herself and the women and children under her care. I love strong female characters and I really enjoyed the retelling of this familiar Greek myth from a feminist perspective, especially the exploration of motherhood, and I enjoyed learning aspects of the story that I didn't already know. Ariadne's character arc is incredibly powerful because, even though she is fallible, she finds a sort of redemption and her story is very compelling. Saint's prose is beautiful and poetic and, at times, it mimics the oral storytelling tradition of the original Greek myths as characters recount the exploits of Zeus, Hera, Perseus, Medusa, Heracles, Hades, Poseidon, Daedalus, and Icarus. As previously mentioned, I have a particular fascination with the story of Phaedra (for obvious reasons) and have read many accounts but, even though this is ostensibly Ariadne's story, I really heard Phaedra's voice come to to life for the first time and I absolutely loved that! This novel was everything I hoped it would be and I highly recommend it!

A Drive to Antelope Island

Yesterday I spontaneously decided to take a drive out to Antelope Island in the middle of the Great Salt Lake.  It is about a 45 minute drive from my house, and once you drive across the causeway, the scenery is pretty spectacular.  I drove around the island and up to Buffalo Point to get some good views of the lake, then I drove to the Garr Ranch to see the buffalo grazing (some of them were really close to the road which was thrilling because I love buffalo), and then I walked down to the beach near the causeway.  It was a beautiful day (not too hot and not too cold) and it felt great to be outside!

Go here for more information about Antelope Island State Park.

Profile

I was absolutely fascinated by the movie Searching because the entire narrative takes place on computer and smartphone screens.  When I saw the trailer for Profile, which employs the same format, I immediately wanted to see it and I had the chance to do so last night.  Amy Whittaker (Valene Kane) is a British investigative journalist who works freelance but is desperate for a permanent position.  She pitches a story about the recruitment of young European women into the terrorist organization ISIS but she needs something compelling to impress her editor (Christine Adams).  She decides to create a new Facebook profile using the persona of a young girl who has recently converted to Islam so she can experience the recruitment process firsthand.  She begins liking and sharing videos with jihadist content and is soon contacted by Abu Bilel (Shazad Latif), a member of ISIS living in Syria.  They begin conversing over Skype every day and, while Amy initially tries to find out damaging information from Bilel, she eventually becomes sympathetic to his cause.  Is she falling in love with the charismatic terrorist or is she doing whatever it takes to get a good story?  The images on Amy's computer screen flash very quickly between her conversations with Bilel, her conversations with her increasingly concerned editor and friends (Morgan Watkins and Emma Carter), footage of ISIS activities from other Facebook profiles, and Google searches for information.  This particular format is even more compelling in this movie than in Searching because it is based on a true story about a relationship conducted entirely on social media.  It is also a cautionary tale about revealing too much about yourself to strangers online. The narrative is incredibly suspenseful and I was on the edge of my seat for most of the final act as Amy's situation becomes more and more dangerous.  Both Kane and Latif give convincing performances as two people playing a cat-and-mouse game with deadly consequences and the tension is palpable.  I really enjoyed this and I recommend it to fans of these so-called Screenlife movies.

Those Who Wish Me Dead

I have been looking forward to Those Who Wish Me Dead for months because it looked like an intense action thriller.  I saw it last night and, while I did enjoy it, I was expecting more from director Taylor Sheridan.  Hannah Faber (Angelina Jolie) is a smoke jumper for the National Forest Service stationed in the wilderness of Montana.  She is suffering from PTSD after a recent fire because she misjudged the direction of the wind which resulted in the deaths of three young boys and she feels responsible.  After failing a psychological evaluation, she is demoted to keeping watch at an isolated fire tower along the Continental Divide.  Owen Casserly (Jake Weber) is a forensic accountant who has discovered a vast government conspiracy.  When he learns that the D.A. working on the case has been assassinated, he correctly assumes that the assassins (Aidan Gillen and Nicholas Hoult) are coming for him next and flees with his son Connor (Finn Little).  The assassins predict that Owen will be trying to reach his brother-in-law Ethan Sawyer (Jon Bernthal), a sheriff in Montana, and ambush him on the road.  Owen is killed but not before he gives Connor the information to implicate many people in power.  Connor is stranded in the wilderness but Hannah finds him and vows to help him as a way to atone for the deaths of the other boys.  However, she must contend with the ruthless assassins who want Connor dead in one direction and a deadly forest fire in the other.  I always enjoy flawed characters seeking redemption but Hannah is very thinly developed (as are most of the other characters in this movie) and the narrative relies more on things implied rather than things explained which becomes frustrating because there are so many unanswered questions.  Jolie gives a kick-ass performance but I was absolutely riveted by Little (I loved him in Storm Boy) and Medina Senghore, who plays Ethan's pregnant wife, has several stand up and cheer moments with the assassins.  The action sequences are an absolute adrenaline rush and the images of the fire destroying everything in its path are strangely compelling.  I liked this movie but it definitely feels like a throw-back to the disaster movies of the past in which the action supersedes plot and character development.  See it for the spectacle but don't expect much more.

Army of the Dead

Last night I took my nephew Sean to see Army of the Dead (Sean is a huge fan of Zack Snyder) and we both had so much fun watching this epic mash up of the zombie and heist genres.  The movie begins with a heavily armed military convoy transporting an unknown, but dangerous, payload.  When the convoy is involved in a head-on collision on a Nevada highway, the container opens to reveal a zombie who infects all of the soldiers before wreaking havoc on the city of Las Vegas in an awesome opening credits sequence (that rivals the one in Deadpool) with a cover of "Viva Las Vegas" underneath it.  A group of heroic soldiers, Ward (Dave Bautista), Cruz (Ana de la Reguera), and Vanderohe (Omari Hardwick), are responsible for saving many lives and helping to contain the city behind a wall of shipping containers.  However, they are now back to their low paying dead-end jobs until a wealthy casino owner (Hiroyuki Sanada) approaches Ward with a proposition.  The government has decided to detonate a nuclear bomb over Las Vegas to wipe out all remaining zombies and Tanaka wants the $200 million located in an almost impenetrable safe in his casino.  He asks Ward to assemble a team and offers $50 million as a reward to infiltrate the city and get the money.  He recruits Cruz and Vanderohe along with a helicopter pilot (Tig Notaro), a safecracker (Matthias Schweighofer, who steals every scene he is in), a coyote who knows the best route into the city (Nora Arnezeder), and a viral personality famous for killing zombies (Raul Castillo).  Tanaka insists that his head of security (Garret Dillahunt) accompany them and Ward's estranged daughter (Ella Purnell) infiltrates the group to locate a friend who has gone missing in the city.  They must contend with the undead (who are pretty terrifying) as well as a traitor in their midst while racing against the clock.  Will any of them survive?  The action sequences are so much fun (but are extremely gruesome) and I especially loved the scenes where they trick the undead into springing all of the booby traps to get to the safe and when one of Siegfried & Roy's undead tigers gets revenge on a bad guy!  Along with all of the action, there is also quite a bit of humor and pathos (I laughed at just about everything Schweighofer says and does until he made me cry).  Bautista gives a surprisingly affecting performance in between all of the battles, especially in a touching scene with his daughter.  Sean and I both really enjoyed this movie and I recommend seeing it on the biggest possible screen with the biggest possible crowd and the biggest possible tub of popcorn.  It is the perfect summer blockbuster!

Note:  It is incredibly violent.  At one point I covered Sean's eyes and said that his parents would be horrified that I took him to this movie (I had permission).  He giggled and replied, "My Dad will love this movie!"