The Magic of Queen at Sandy Amphitheater

Last summer I really missed seeing outdoor performances (I wonder if I have mentioned that?) so this summer I made a list of all of my favorite outdoor performance venues and I have been trying to get to all of them (it looks like I will be able to check off most of them before the summer is over).  A few weeks ago I realized that I didn't include the Sandy Amphitheater (which is a great venue) so I decided to look at the website and see if there was a show that I might like.  I got very excited when I saw a show called The Magic of Queen (I wonder if I have mentioned that I really love Queen?) and I got even more excited when I saw that there were still good tickets available (it eventually sold out).  The show was last night and the weather could not have been better for an outdoor show!  Most of the summer has been unbearably hot and this week there has been a lot of rain but last night was nice and cool.  This was the first concert I have been to since I saw Sarah McLachlan at the Eccles Theatre in February of 2020 and I loved feeling the energy from such a large and enthusiastic crowd!  The Magic of Queen is a show featuring Brody Dolyniuk and his band performing the music of Queen (he also does shows performing the music of Led Zeppelin and Elton John).  He sounds like Freddie Mercury but he doesn't try to imitate him and I really enjoyed his versions of the classic songs.  The first half of the show included "One Vision," "Tie Your Mother Down," "Play the Game," "Keep Yourself Alive," "You're My Best Friend," "Killer Queen," "Now I'm Here," "Somebody to Love," and "Under Pressure."  After the intermission, they played a beautiful rendition of "Love of My Life" and then the crowd came to life during "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Fat Bottomed Girls."  Next came "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "Radio Ga Ga" (complete with clapping).  Dolyniuk introduced the next song by saying that it was the title of a recent movie about a rock star and then started playing "Rocket Man," which got a huge laugh from the crowd.  Then they performed a stirring version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" which is the song I had been waiting all night for!  It did not disappoint!  The concert concluded, as Queen concerts often do, with "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions." I had so much fun at this concert and I am so glad that I suddenly remembered to add Sandy Amphitheater to my list!  Go here for the remaining shows this summer.

The Night House

Last night I saw a late Thursday preview of The Night House in an empty theater.  In retrospect, that might not have been such a good idea because this movie is really scary at times and I may or may not have screamed out loud.  Beth (Rebecca Hall) lives in a lake house designed and built by her husband Owen (Evan Jonigkeit) who has recently died by suicide.  She has a very dark past and her husband's death has clearly sent her over the edge.  She begins to feel a presence in the house, which she believes is her husband, and becomes obsessed with finding out why he decided to kill himself, seemingly out of the blue.  As she searches through his possessions, she finds several books about the occult, a number of pictures of women who look astonishingly similar to her, and architectural plans for a house that is a mirror image of her own which Owen had actually started building across the lake.  As Beth becomes more and more traumatized by the strange goings on in her house, she discovers that her troubled past may have had more of an impact on her husband than she imagined.  This is incredibly moody and atmospheric (my favorite kind of horror movie) and I especially liked the use of light and dark in the negative space in the house.  Shadows and outlines suddenly morph into something sinister and then back again and the effect is absolutely terrifying because Beth is not really sure of what she is seeing and neither is the audience.  I am not usually a fan of jump scares because they seem really lazy to me but there is one in particular in this movie that is very well done (this is where I may or may not have screamed).  The sound design is extremely menacing and it really adds to the almost unbearable tension.  Hall gives a brilliant performance and completely sells her character's grief, depression, anger, paranoia, and terror.  My biggest complaint with this movie is that all of the elements of the story don't quite come together as cohesively as they could have and it is a bit confusing.  The ending is very abrupt and not altogether satisfying after the buildup.  On the whole I did really enjoy The Night House and I would definitely recommend it to fans of horror movies.

Not a Happy Family

My Book of the Month selection for August was Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena (the other options were Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson, The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina by Zoraida Cordova, The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang, and Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy). I discovered Lapena during the lockdown when reading was my biggest source of entertainment and she quickly became one of my favorite authors! I devoured every one of her books in one sitting so I was thrilled when her latest was an option this month! I eagerly anticipated getting my blue box delivered to my door and, just like the others, I read it in a single day!  Fred and Sheila Mercer are a wealthy couple living in a secluded and affluent neighborhood in the Hudson Valley. They invite their three adult children and their partners, Catherine and her husband Ted, Dan and his wife Lisa, and Jenna and her latest fling Jake, to dinner on Easter Sunday. Fred has been a cruel and vindictive father and Sheila has been a passive and disinterested mother so tensions are running high even before the dinner. Fred uses the occasion to profess his disappointment in each of them and to make a bombshell announcement. Two days later Fred and Sheila are discovered dead, the victims of an especially brutal homicide. At first, the police believe it is a robbery that turned violent but they soon come to suspect all three of the siblings. Each of them have a strong motive and, more importantly, none of them have an alibi for the time of the murders. Shocking secrets are revealed, circumstantial evidence is found to connect all three of them to the crime, and desperate siblings eventually turn on each other but which one of them killed their parents? The chapters are short and alternate between the POVs of multiple characters who are unsympathetic and unreliable so it is incredibly suspenseful. I could not put this book down because new revelations, that continually changed who I suspected, appear in almost every chapter and I had to keep reading. Lapena kept me guessing until the very end, which doesn't happen often, and the resolution is incredibly satisfying! The final sentence made me cheer out loud! As a huge fan of Lapena I think this might be her best yet and I definitely recommend it (as well as all of her other books) to fans of murder mysteries.

Free Guy

Last night I had the chance to see Free Guy in IMAX and I had an absolute blast with this movie!  Guy (Ryan Reynolds) in an NPC (Non-Player Character) in an open-world video game called Free City.  Every morning he wakes up at the same time, wears the same blue shirt and tie, gets the same coffee, and follows the same route to his job as a bank teller with his best friend Buddy (Lil Rel Howery).  There is violence and mayhem all around him and his day usually culminates in a bank heist but it doesn't matter to him because he just wants to find someone special.  One day everything changes when he sees Molotov Girl (Jodie Comer) and decides to break his routine and follow her.  Molotov Girl is the avatar for a programmer named Millie (Comer) who plays Free City looking for evidence that Antwan (Taika Waititi), the publisher of the game, stole the code that she wrote with her partner Keys (Joe Keery) for a much more ambitious game.  Guy borrows a pair of sunglasses (which allows him to see the real gaming environment) and starts playing to impress Molotov Girl but he refuses to use violence and eventually becomes a hero to players around the world.  Millie enlists his help to find the evidence she needs and also starts to develop feelings for him but, when Antwan figures out what is happening, it becomes a race to save Free City before it is shut down.  This movie is just so much fun and Guy is the perfect role for the charismatic and goofy Reynolds.  He is really hit-or-miss with me but I laughed out loud multiple times at his antics because he is absolutely hilarious as the naive and optimistic Guy.  Comer is also really good as the kick-ass Molotov Girl but I also enjoyed her as the nerdy Millie, especially when she watches herself interacting with Guy on her computer screen.  Keery is quite endearing as Keys (I usually pay more attention to his hair than his performance) and Waititi is completely over-the-top as the egomaniacal CEO (but the shtick does get old after awhile).  There are lots of fun cameos (including real gamers who I didn't recognize) but my favorite is Channing Tatum as an avatar for a nerdy player (Matty Cardarople) living in his mother's basement.  The world-building in Free City seems really authentic to me (a non-gamer) and I liked all of the action sequences.  I also liked the commentary on the ease with which violence and collateral damage happen to background characters in video games and the resolution showing that the real world is ultimately more appealing than the gaming world.  I enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would and I highly recommend it (and a big tub of popcorn) for a fun night out.

Note:  I did find it a bit cheesy that two of Disney's biggest IPs are thrown into the mix during the final act.

Respect

Last night I went to see a Thursday preview of Respect and, even though I thought it was a bit conventional and formulaic, I enjoyed this portrait of Aretha Franklin.  Young Aretha (Skye Dakota Turner) is devastated by the untimely death of her mother (Audra McDonald) which causes her to withdraw from her family and refuse to speak.  Her father (Forest Whitaker), a Baptist minister of a large church in Detroit, forces her to sing in front of his congregation to help her deal with her grief and she learns that music is the way to cope with her demons.  Several years later Aretha (now played by Jennifer Hudson) becomes an international star but she must overcome her controlling father, industry executives (Tate Donovan and Marc Maron) who think they know what is best for her career, an abusive husband (Marlon Wayons), and an addiction to alcohol before she finds her voice and returns to her roots with a triumphant gospel album and concert.  This is a fairly standard biopic that follows the familiar rise, fall, and redemption arc of its subject and, despite the fact that it has what feels like an overly long runtime, there are so many aspects of Franklin's life that are either not covered (there is a long list of bulleted items about her life before the credits roll) or covered very superficially (such as the implication that she was sexually abused as a child and that this abuse led to a pregnancy at a very young age).  However, this movie is elevated by a phenomenal performance by Hudson who absolutely dazzles when singing Franklin's greatest hits in concert, especially "Respect" and "Think."  The supporting performances are also fantastic, particularly those of Whitaker and Wayans.  Finally, I really enjoyed seeing the process of recording "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)," "Respect," and "Ain't No Way" because it is so interesting to see how a song comes together.  This is not quite as great as I was hoping it would be but it is definitely worth seeing, especially for fans of Aretha Franklin (and Jennifer Hudson).