Rock Paper Scissors

My Book of the Month selection for September was Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney (the other options were The Sweetest Remedy by Jane Igharo, Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang, The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood, and The Neighbor's Secret by L. Alison Heller). I did not especially care for Sometimes I Lie, the only book I have read by this author, but I chose this one because it sounded really intriguing and I have been in the mood for thrillers lately. I couldn't put it down and, this time around, Feeney got me with several twists even though I was expecting one. Amelia and Adam Wright are having trouble in their marriage because they both feel that they don't know who the other is anymore. Amelia wins a weekend stay in the Scottish Highlands in a raffle at work and, in a last ditch attempt to save their marriage, she insists that they go and Adam begrudgingly agrees. However, it soon becomes apparent that they are each keeping secrets from each other and that they both have ulterior motives for agreeing to the weekend. After a difficult journey through a snowstorm they discover that their destination is an isolated chapel, with an ominous past, that has been converted into a living space. It appears to have been neglected for years. They attempt to settle in and make the best of the situation but soon there are strange goings-on that add to the already palpable tension between the two of them. As the storm intensifies, they are left without power and without cellular service but, even more frightening, a local inhabitant named Robin takes a disturbing interest in the couple and it seems that not everyone will survive this weekend. The narrative alternates between the perspectives of Amelia, Adam, and Robin, who are all very unsympathetic and unreliable, and interspersed between these are letters written to Adam by his wife on their anniversary (which he has never been allowed to read until this weekend) chronicling the deterioration of their relationship. The setting is incredibly atmospheric which creates a sense of impending peril on every page (there is even a hint of the paranormal thrown into the mix) and this kept me reading into the early hours. There are multiple layers (with several supporting characters) to the story and I was ever vigilant in trying to predict the twist that I was sure was coming. I had several theories but, when it inevitably came, I was absolutely blown away. I had to go back and read several sections again to pick up on any clues but they are there! Then, just when I thought the characters had reached the perfect resolution, there is another twist that made me question everything I thought I knew about them. I actually laughed out loud because the ending is so sinister. I may need to read more from this author (and I may need to read Sometimes I Lie again) because this is absolutely brilliant. I highly recommend it!

Note:  While I was reading I kept thinking that this would make a fantastic movie.  Apparently, the rights have been acquired by Netflix.

The 39 Steps at HCTO

I have had season tickets at Hale Centre Theatre for years and years but I had never been to HCT Orem (which is independently owned and operated), mostly because it is 45 minute drive to get there from my house.  I decided it was worth the drive when I found out that they were performing The 39 Steps which is one of the funniest plays I have ever seen.  I just had to see it again so I went last night and I am really glad that I did.  This hilarious show is a parody of the 1935 spy movie of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock and it features four actors (and a Foley Artist) performing all of the roles.  The action is lightning fast with scene changes and costume changes happening on stage (characters are sometimes denoted with just the change of a hat).  There are also many visual and auditory references to other Hitchcock movies, such as Psycho, Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, North By Northwest, and The Birds (there may be more but these are the ones I picked up on).  Will Ingram plays Richard Hannay, a man at loose ends who becomes embroiled in a plot to stop a ring of spies from stealing military secrets when a mysterious woman named Annabella Schmidt is stabbed after taking refuge in his apartment.  Amber Dodge plays Annabella and several other women who become romantically involved with Hannay when he travels to Scotland to clear his name.  Andy Hansen and Brett Jamison play every other character, including actors, traveling salesmen, policemen, innkeepers, farmers, spies, and more.  Amanda Anne Dayton is the Foley Artist who produces various sound effects, such as footsteps, doors opening and closing, train whistles, and even, rather amusingly, the bleating of a sheep.  All four actors have brilliant comedic timing and I especially enjoyed it whenever the characters had to jump through windows and walk through doorways.  The stage is in the round (it doesn't have the state-of-the-art technology of HCT but it feels much more intimate) which is perfect for this show as characters run in and out multiple times.  The sets and props are very minimal and I was particularly impressed with how a chase sequence on top of a train is staged.  I laughed and laughed through the whole show, as did the entire audience, and I had a thoroughly wonderful time!  I enjoyed it so much I immediately bought a ticket to The Hunchback of Notre Dame in October.  The 39 Steps runs through Sept. 25 and I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here).

Flag Day

It is the long Labor Day weekend and I have no major plans (which is perfectly fine with me because every day is a holiday when you are retired and I have a little getaway planned for next weekend) so I spontaneously decided to see Flag Day last night.  It is based on a true story about how an investigative journalist named Jennifer Vogel (Dylan Penn) makes peace with her dysfunctional, yet charming, father John (Sean Penn).  The narrative begins in 1992 when Jennifer learns from a U.S. Marshall that her father is the head of a notorious counterfeiting operation and that he is now on the run from the FBI.  The action flashes back to Jennifer's childhood when her father makes everything seem like an adventure, her troubled adolescence when she tries to reform him, when she becomes disillusioned with him as a young adult, and when she triumphs over her chaotic upbringing to become a journalist as an adult.  The timeline returns to 1992 and Jennifer sees her father's capture on the news and must then reconcile her feelings for him.  Much of this is very episodic and unfocused (literally).  I suppose it is an attempt to mimic the transitory nature of memories and the sepia-colored home movies of the era but it doesn't really work because the relationship between Jennifer and John never feels fully fleshed out.  There were many moments when my attention wavered because the narrative is so disjointed.  I found both performances to be rather overwrought, although the elder Penn has a much more riveting screen presence than the younger, and there is a surprising lack of chemistry between the two despite the fact that they are father and daughter in real life.  There is not even a satisfying emotional reckoning between the two main characters at the end to make all of the melodrama that precedes it interesting.  The resolution falls really flat.  There are quite a few cameos, including Regina King, Josh Brolin, Dale Dickey, and Eddie Marsden, that seem a bit pointless because none of their characters add much to the story (these actors must have owed Penn a favor because I am not sure what compelled them to be in this movie).  I did like some of the original music by Eddie Vedder, particularly a song featuring his seventeen-year-old daughter Olivia on vocals, but, on the whole, this is a disappointing mess that should be avoided.

Note:  I can't believe this screened at Cannes.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

I was really happy to have the chance see Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings at a Thursday preview last night because it is so good!  Over a thousand years ago a man named Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung) discovers ten rings, which grant the wearer immortality and the ability to wield incredible power, and he uses them to form a secret society of deadly assassins called the Ten Rings.  Many years later he learns of a village called Ta Lo, filled with magical creatures and inhabitants who practice a mystical form of martial arts, which he wants to control.  When he finds the entrance to the village he is beaten by Ying Li (Fala Chen), one of the guardians, and is stopped from entering.  They eventually fall in love so Wenwu gives up his power and Li leaves her village so they can marry.  They are happy with their two children, Xu Shang-Chi and Xu Xialing, for a time but eventually Wenwu's past catches up to him and a rival gang kills Li.  Wenwu returns to the Ten Rings and trains the young Shang-Chi to become an assassin to avenge his mother's death.  Shang-Chi becomes disillusioned and flees to the United States where he attempts to hide his identity.  In the present day, Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), now known as Shaun, is working as a parking valet with his best friend Katy (Awkwafina) when he is attacked by members of the Ten Rings who are looking for a pendant given to him by his mother.  He fears for his estranged sister Xialing (Meng'er Zhang), now living in Macau, because she also has a pendant so he travels there to warn her with Katy.  The two siblings eventually reunite with Wenwu, who wants the pendants to locate Ta Lo once again.  Shang-Chi, Xialing, and Katy escape (with the help of a character from the MCU that is simply too good to spoil here) and learn the secret of Ta Lo from Li's sister Ying Nan (Michelle Yeoh).  Nan shows Shang-Chi that he must embrace the traits given to him by both parents in order to save the village in an epic showdown.  I loved this movie so much and I think it is one of the best in the MCU.  I am not a martial arts expert, by any stretch of the imagination, but I think the action sequences are absolutely exhilarating, particularly the fights on a bus and on a bamboo scaffolding, and I could definitely see the two very distinct types of fighting employed by Wenwu and the Ten Rings and by Li and the rest of the villagers, respectively.  I loved the message about the importance of family and knowing who you are and I also loved the meaningful character arcs for not only Shang-Chi but also for Xialing and Katy.  It has a lot more heart than I was expecting with an incredibly powerful scene in the third act (Leung is absolutely fantastic).  I enjoyed the chemistry between Liu and Awkwafina and all of the back and forth banter between their characters (I laughed out loud so many times, especially in a mid-credits scene) because they have such a fun relationship.  Marvel did so many things right with this movie and I think it is one that most people will enjoy.

The Secret Garden at HCT

I am not a big fan of the musical The Secret Garden but Director/Choreographer Dave Tinney made me love HCT's productions of Matilda and Cinderella (shows I don't usually enjoy) and I didn't hate their version of Seussical (a show I almost walked out of when the Broadway touring production came to town and then vowed to never see again) so I was hopeful when I walked into Hale Centre Theatre last night because he is also at the helm of this show. As predicted Tinney worked his magic once again because I absolutely loved it! Mary Lennox (Olivia Dietlein) is orphaned by a cholera outbreak in India and sent to live with her uncle Archibald Craven (Quinn Dietlein) at Misselthwaite Manor in Yorkshire. He has been grieving the death of his wife Lily (Lisa Zimmerman), who died in childbirth, for the past ten years and has closed off his heart, his house, and Lily's garden. Mary receives a cold welcome from the housekeeper Mrs. Medlock (Linda Jean Stephenson) and an indifferent one from her uncle. She is lonely and unhappy but is encouraged by a maid named Martha (McKelle Shaw) and her brother Dickon (Ben Butters) to play outside and she soon discovers Lily's abandoned garden. She also discovers her cousin Colin (Toby Worland) who has been kept an invalid by Archibald's brother Neville (Alex DeBirk). As Mary brings the garden back to life, she also brings Colin and Archibald back to life.  I always love the interactions between Mary, Colin, Dickon, and Martha but my biggest problem with this show is the emphasis on the adults because I find them, especially the ghosts of characters who have died, to be almost superfluous to the story (this is the biggest change from the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett). In this production, however, I really loved how the choreography involves the ghosts in almost every scene, particularly when Mary wanders the corridors of Misselthwaite Manor at night (with characters holding windows for her to run between), when Archibald remembers waltzing with Lily in the ballroom (with characters dancing between candelabras shrouded in dust cloths), when Mary and Dickon bring Colin to the garden for the first time (with characters summoning spirits to heal Colin), and when Archibald despairs at his loneliness without Lily (with characters holding mirrors to reflect the ghosts all around him). I don't remember seeing these characters so intimately involved in the action before and their inclusion made so much more sense to me. There are even ghosts behind windows at each entrance to the theatre which creates an eerie atmosphere. The set design, as is usually the case with HCT, is absolutely brilliant. I loved all of the dark and ponderous pieces of furniture because they emphasize how gloomy Misselthwaite Manor has become but each piece features painted flowers and vines to show that Lily's garden also haunts the inhabitants. Speaking of the garden, I loved it both when it is in its dormant state and when it is in bloom (the wisteria hanging down from the rafters was my favorite). Butters performs "Winter's on the Wing" and "Wick" (my favorite songs in the show) beautifully but I was absolutely enchanted by the animal puppets (including a dog, the all important robin who leads Mary to the garden, rabbits, a fox, and geese) used in these numbers and I may have even giggled out loud the first time the dog appeared. I also really enjoyed the songs "Come Spirit, Come Charm" by the children and the ghosts and a powerful rendition of "Hold On" by Shaw. I loved everything about this production, which I was not expecting, so I definitely recommend getting a ticket (go here). It runs on the Young Living Centre Stage through October 23.