Ron's Gone Wrong

Last night I finally had the chance to see Ron's Gone Wrong and it is both a touching story of friendship and a cautionary tale about the dangers of social media.  Barney (Jack Dylan Grazer) is a socially awkward teen who feels even more left out because he is the only student at Nonsuch Middle School who doesn't have a B-Bot.  Mark Weidell (Justice Smith), the CEO of the Bubble corporation (a tech giant obviously modeled on Apple), has created a robot that uses information from an owner's online profile to become his or her best friend and to find other online friends but Andrew Morris (Rob Delaney), the COO of Bubble, has more sinister plans for the B-Bot.  When Barney's dad (Ed Helms) and his Bulgarian grandmother (Olivia Colman) realize how much he wants a B-Bot, they go to the Bubble store but are told that there is a three month wait-list to get one.  Not wanting to disappoint him, they pay a delivery man under the table for one that fell off the truck.  Barney's B-Bot, named Ron (Jack Galifianakis), is defective and cannot download any of the software or connect to the Bubble network.  Barney tries to take Ron back but ends up bonding with him and decides to teach him manually how to be his friend.  Ron ends up teaching Barney how to be a friend and helps him to reconnect with the friends he had in elementary school.  What I loved most about this movie is that Ron serves as real friend to Barney rather than an online one and I loved the scenes where they are laughing and having fun playing together.  I also think it is interesting that all of Ron's former friends, Savannah (Kylie Cantrall), Rich (Ricardo Hurtado), Noah (Cullen McCarthy) and Ava (Ava Morse), ultimately become disillusioned with their B-Bots and find a more meaningful connection with Barney.  This is a theme that I particularly enjoy (go here and here).  The character design of Ron is really cute and Galifianakis's portrayal of him is incredibly endearing.  I also enjoyed all of the subtle humor, especially the digs at Apple (as someone who dislikes the Apple store intensely, I absolutely loved that the Bubble store employees, with their tablets in hand, could do nothing to fix Ron because it mirrors my own experience exactly).  As a former teacher, the docking station for the B-Bots at the school made me laugh out loud.  This is a really fun movie with a lot of heart and I highly recommend it.

Ballet West's Dracula

Last night I went to see Dracula, the first production of Ballet West's 2021-2022 season and the first large-scale ballet performed since the pandemic.  I was really looking forward to this ballet and I loved it!  In Act I Dracula (Chase O'Connell) emerges, dramatically, from a tomb in the crypt of his castle and summons all of his brides who dance at his command.  I loved the choreography because Dracula controls them with just a glance or a gesture and he works them up into a frenzy where they leap (and sometimes fly) across the stage.  Dracula's chief henchman, Renfield (Joshua Whitehead), brings a young woman named Flora (Emily Adams) to the castle in a horse-drawn carriage (I loved that the horses are portrayed by dancers).  With the help of his brides, Dracula detains her and then beguiles her in a gorgeous Pas de Deux before transforming her.  In Act II an Innkeeper (Jordan Veit) and his wife (Katlyn Addison, my favorite dancer with Ballet West) are celebrating the birthday of their daughter Svetlana (Beckanne Sisk) with a group of villagers who perform various folkloric dances (I especially loved the use of ribbons in these dances).  Svetlana is in love with a villager named Frederick (Hadriel Diniz) who asks her father for permission to marry her and, when it is granted, they dance another beautiful Pas de Deux.  They also dance a series of solos and I especially liked it when Svetlana twirls on her heels (I'm sure there is a proper term for this).  Dracula, who has heard of Svetlana's beauty, sends Flora, now under his control, into the village and they capture her.  In Act III Flora and the brides prepare Dracula's bedchamber in the castle (Flora flies dramatically across the stage and this made me gasp out loud) for Svetlana's arrival.  Dracula beguiles Svetlana in another amazing Pas de Deux where she appears to glide across the stage.  Frederick and several others from the village arrive at the castle to rescue Svetlana and a battle ensues (with some great special effects).  In addition to the choreography and performances, I loved the music by Franz Liszt (some of the themes reminded me of Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz), the costumes (especially the cape worn by Dracula which, when unfurled, looks like a bat's wings and the ethereal white dresses worn by the brides), and the sets (particularly the dark and atmospheric crypt in the castle).  I enjoyed this beautiful production so much that I now count Dracula among my favorite ballets and I highly recommend attending one of the remaining performances (go here for tickets and information).

James Taylor at the Maverik Center

I really love James Taylor and I have seen him live many times at many different venues including, rather memorably, the LDS Conference Center with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Utah Symphony.  I try to see him whenever I can and I was so excited when he announced a new tour.  The SLC show was originally scheduled for the last day of school in 2020 so I bought a ticket thinking that it would be the perfect way to celebrate my retirement.  We all know how that turned out!  Fortunately, the concert was rescheduled and I enjoyed it just as much last night.  The opening act was Jackson Browne and, since I had never seen him live before, I was looking forward to his set as much as Taylor's.  He sang quite a few of his more recent songs and I enjoyed them even though I didn't recognize them as much as the hits.  I loved "Somebody's Baby" at the beginning of the set, "Doctor My Eyes" in the middle, and "Running on Empty" at the end.  Another highlight was "The Pretender" because he was joined on stage by Taylor, to the delight of the audience.  Taylor began his set with "Country Road" and then included a few of his lesser known songs in the first half.  Of these, I really enjoyed "As Easy As Falling Off a Log" from his latest album, American Standard (which consists of covers from the American songbook), and I also liked his renditions of "Mexico" and "Steamroller" because his incredibly talented band basically turned these songs into improvisational jam sessions.  However, I have to admit that I absolutely loved the second half of the show because he played his most well-known hits, including "Sweet Baby James," "Fire and Rain," "Carolina in My Mind," and "Shower the People" (one of my favorite songs).  He ended the set with an emotional performance of "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)."  For the encore, he sang a cover of the Eagles song "Take It Easy" with Jackson Browne (which Browne co-wrote with Glenn Frey), a beautiful acoustic version of "You've Got a Friend," and "You Can Close Your Eyes" with his son Henry.  Taylor told lots anecdotes about his songs (at one point he said that his intro to a song was longer than the song itself) and his interactions with the audience were really funny (when multiple people yelled that they loved him he said that it was becoming a bidding war).  It was a wonderful show that was definitely worth the wait!

Note:  There is always one song from an artist's back catalog that I want to hear and with James Taylor it is "Handy Man."  I wasn't too disappointed that it wasn't included last night because I've heard him sing it before.

Dune

I am a huge fan of the book Dune by Frank Herbert.  I read it for the first time in tenth grade (about the time the David Lynch adaptation, which I did not like, came out) and, even though I didn't understand it completely, I loved the world building and the Chosen One narrative.  Upon subsequent readings, I came to admire the message about the evils of colonialism including the oppression of indigenous peoples and the destruction of the environment in pursuit of a valuable resource.  I have been anticipating the latest adaptation by Denis Villeneuve ever since I saw the first trailer (which blew my mind) and I finally had the opportunity to see it last night at a Thursday preview.  I loved it!  The Emperor, who rules the universe, has assigned Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) of House Atreides to be the new steward of the planet Arrakis, which is a harsh desert but the only source of a valuable spice necessary for interplanetary travel.  The Emperor views House Atreides as a threat and sets Duke Leto up to fail with the help of the former steward, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgard) of House Harkonnen.  Leto's son Paul (Timothee Chalamet) is the heir to the dukedom and has been trained in warfare and politics by his advisors Duncan Idaho (Jason Momoa), Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin), and Thufir Hawat (Stephen McKinley Henderson).  Paul's mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), belongs to a holy order known as the Bene Gesserit and so he has also been trained in their superior mental and physical abilities.  When Paul begins having dreams about future events on Arrakis, Jessica summons the Reverend Mother (Charlotte Rampling) of her order to administer a test to determine if he is the one prophesied to bring peace to the universe.  After a betrayal and an invasion Paul must ultimately join forces with the Fremen, the native peoples of Arrakis, including a leader named Stilgar (Javier Bardem) and a young girl named Chani (Zendaya) who has appeared in Paul's dreams.  I loved the entire cast but I was especially impressed with Chalamet's portrayal of Paul's journey from resistance to and then acceptance of his destiny and Momoa's portrayal of Duncan's loyalty to Paul and House Atreides.  I loved the epic scope of the movie including some truly spectacular and visually stunning sequences, particularly the depiction of the ornithopters (they look like giant dragonflies) and the sandworms.  I loved the sound design, especially the portrayal of the Voice (it gave me goosebumps), and Hans Zimmer's incredibly atmospheric score (I loved the bagpipes when House Atreides arrives on Arrakis).  I love that Villeneuve chose to tell the story in two parts to really explore the mythology but this movie does feel incomplete (my only criticism).  I sincerely hope the next one gets made!  As someone who loves the source material, I highly recommend seeing this brilliant adaptation on the biggest screen possible (if you feel comfortable doing so).

Cats in Las Vegas

For Christmas two years ago I was given a season subscription to Broadway Las Vegas.  It was pretty much the best gift ever because I love live theatre and I love road trips!  Unfortunately, I only got to see one show before Covid shut everything down.  The good news is that I was able to apply my remaining tickets to the new 2021-2022 season and I saw the first show, Cats, last night.  I am not a big fan of the musical Cats because I saw it for the first time in London the night after I saw Les Miserables, which was a dream come true, and it suffered unfairly in comparison (and who can forget the trauma of watching the movie adaptation?).  I have since learned to appreciate the show and I was really happy to be back at the Smith Center for the first time since the pandemic started!  The story, such as it is, is based on a collection of poems called Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot and features music composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber.  Once a year the Jellicle Cats meet for the Jellicle Ball where Old Deuteronomy chooses one of them to ascend (in a giant tire) to the Heaviside Layer and be reborn.  Each cat explains why he or she should be the one chosen in big song and dance numbers.  My favorites are "The Rum Tum Tugger," "Bustopher Jones:  The Cat About Town," "Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer," "Macavity, The Mystery Cat," "Magical Mister Mistoffelees," and, of course, the showstopper "Memory."  The entire cast in this production is insanely talented but my favorite dancers were Hyla Mayrose Perillo as Victoria, Zach Bravo as Rum Tum Tugger, and Paul Giarratano as Mistoffelees.  Tayler Harris, as Grizabella, just about brought the house down with her powerful, yet vulnerable, rendition of "Memory" and I really liked Indalecio De Jesus Valentin's voice as Old Deuteronomy.  The choreography in this show is absolutely brilliant, especially in "Song of the Jellicles and the Jellicle Ball," "Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat" (I loved the way they created the train), and "Magical Mister Mistoffelees," and I really like how it incorporates the mannerisms of real cats. This show will never be my favorite but I have to admit that I got caught up in the excitement of the people around me and I really enjoyed it.  It has been a fun trip!

Note:  After watching the stage version again I was reminded that the movie was such a missed opportunity.