The Matrix Resurrections

Yesterday afternoon I went with Kristine, Trent, Tashena, and Sean to see The Matrix Resurrections and it was so much fun to see it with my family.  I am a big fan of this franchise (I recently watched all three movies again) so I was really looking forward to this installment and I absolutely loved it!  Within the present-day iteration of the Matrix, Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) is a successful video game programmer who has difficulty separating his dreams from reality.  He is inexplicably drawn to a woman named Tiffany (Carrie-Anne Moss), a married mother of three who has an affinity for motorcycles, and has an antagonistic relationship with his business partner Smith (Jonathan Groff).  His Analyst (Neil Patrick Harris) prescribes blue pills to keep him sane but he eventually stops taking them and inadvertently creates a modal with a program embodying Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II).  Bugs (Jessica Henwick), a human outside the Matrix and the captain of the Mnemosyne, discovers this modal and realizes that Neo is still alive.  With the help of Morpheus, she extracts him from the Matrix and takes him to Io, the new human headquarters, where he meets Niobe (Jada Pinckett-Smith) and the sentient program Sati (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) who tell him what has happened since the Machine War ended sixty years ago.  As he struggles to assimilate within his new environment, he requests permission to extract Trinity but this request is denied.  Bugs and her crew go rogue in order to assist him but first he must confront several exile programs, including the Merovingian (Lambert Wilson), Agent Smith, and the Analyst (in some epic action sequences that are exciting even though they don't quite live up to those in the original).  I loved the winking self-awareness about this specific franchise (and of sequels in general) and I loved all of the nostalgia.  I was giggling out loud with every reference, call-back, and revelation.  I also loved the relationship between Neo and Trinity (Reeves and Moss give fantastic performances and they still have so much chemistry) and the meaning it gives to the notion of being the "One."  Finally, I loved the concept of free will and how it is used in Trinity's character arc as well as the implication of it when the swarm is used during the final battle within the Matrix.  It should be noted that Sean, who is as big a fan of the franchise as I am, also loved it (we spent quite a bit of time discussing it afterwards and have plans to see it again); Kristine and Trent, who are casual fans, liked it and thought it was very clever; and Tashena, who hasn't seen any of the movies in the franchise, was totally confused and fell asleep.  You should probably use these reactions as a guide in deciding if you want to see it but I highly recommend it!

Gingerbread Houses 2021

One of my family's favorite Christmas traditions is making gingerbread houses and, since we all needed a bit of Christmas cheer yesterday, we had our annual party and then played Shanghai rummy.

We had a lot of fun and, as always, we ate as much candy as we used on our houses!

Marilyn's house

My house

Tashena's house

Sean's house

I think they turned out pretty good this year!

After we made our gingerbread houses, Kristine and Trent joined us for Shanghai rummy.  It honestly felt good to relax a little bit after such a difficult month.  Trent won but the rest of us declared a rematch tonight!

Remembering My Dad

My Dad passed away peacefully at home surrounded by his family last Wednesday after a courageous battle with multiple medical issues.  It is really difficult to lose your Dad but it is comforting to know that he is free from pain.  We held a visitation for family and friends last night and hearing so many lovely things about my Dad was also very comforting.

It was my Dad's wish to be cremated and we had a dear family friend make his urn.  We asked for the flowers to be red and white to honor his Canadian roots.

We had a display of pictures of when he was young (and very handsome) as well as pictures of him playing Santa Claus.  We also displayed all of his hockey jerseys.

We were so worried about how my Mom would handle seeing so many people, which can be overwhelming for her, but she did really well.  She was able to visit with most of her siblings as well as her cousin (pictured above) and she was able to recognize many neighbors and friends.

I was very touched by how many people came and I wish that I had been able to get more pictures.  The only time I lost my composure was when friends would talk about their memories of watching hockey with my Dad!

I am so happy that my niece Tashena was able to come home from college to be with us and I can't believe how handsome my nephew Sean looked (he was wearing my Dad's watch).

I want to thank everyone who came to the visitation because it really was wonderful to see and talk to all of you about my Dad.

A Christmas Carol at HCT 2021

I have a long-standing tradition of seeing HCT's production of A Christmas Carol every year (I like to joke that I have seen it so many times I could probably stand in for any role) and I had the chance to see it again last night. I love the well-known story by Charles Dickens of Ebenezer Scrooge's reclamation by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future and I think Hale's adaptation is absolutely beautiful. This year the cast includes many actors that I have never seen before (which is unusual because many actors return to the same roles year after year) and I particularly enjoyed Stephen Kerr as Scrooge, Ben Oldroyd as Bob Cratchit, Spencer Jackson Hohl as Fred, Jared Lesa as the Ghost of Christmas Present, and Patrick Despain as Tiny Tim. I loved Kerr's cantankerous and grouchy characterization of Scrooge and the subtle changes in his demeanor as he encounters each ghost and internalizes the lessons they teach him are incredibly effective. His interactions with Oldroyd during the final scene are so tender they brought a tear to my eye. Hohl is the perfect counterpoint to Kerr because he imbues Fred with a lot of cheerfulness and charm. I also really enjoyed Lesa's characterization because he is very merry as the embodiment of Christmas but he is also quite harsh with Scrooge. Despain is absolutely endearing and I loved his delivery of the iconic line at the end of the show. One aspect of Hale's production that I really love is the use of music in between scenes by an octet (Mindi Hansen, Samantha Paredes, Jessica Pearce, Emily Roh, Ryan Withers, Barton Sloan, Bryan Johnson, and Taylor Smith) and in certain party scenes by the characters. My favorite song is, of course, "Bring a Torch Jeanette, Isabella" which is sung during the Fezziwig's party. The elaborate Victorian sets are incredibly immersive (the projections are fantastic) and I particularly love Scrooge's bedroom (the wallpaper is amazing), Fezziwig's warehouse, and the rag and bottle shop. I usually sit on the extreme right side of the theater so I often miss out on some of the special effects but last night I sat on the front row in the center section so I was quite enchanted when Jacob Marley (Matt Kohler) comes through Scrooge's fireplace to visit him and when the Ghost of Christmas Future (Ren Cottam), who is quite scary, reveals Scrooge's name on the tombstone. I keep returning to see this show year after year because it fills me with so much cheer and I always leave the theater vowing to keep Christmas all year long. Unfortunately, every performance during the run is sold out but HCT has been known to add shows so keep checking the website (go here) for tickets.

Spider-Man: No Way Home

I was supposed to see Spider-Man: No Way Home last Thursday (I even stayed up until midnight to get a ticket as soon as they went on sale) but I postponed it several days to be in a better headspace for it and, unbelievably, I managed to avoid seeing any spoilers.  I took my nephew to see it yesterday and I am so glad that I didn't know anything going in because I loved it!  It was one of the best movie viewing experiences that I have had in a very long time with scenes that made me cheer out loud and scenes that made me cry!  Immediately after the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home, J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) shows a doctored video accusing Peter Parker (Tom Holland) of murdering Mysterio and exposing his identity as Spider-Man on his sensationalist news website.  This makes Peter's life increasingly difficult and, by extension, it also adversely affects his friends M.J. (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon).  He turns to Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) for a spell to make the world forget that he is Spider-Man but, when he realizes that those closest to him will also forget, he interferes with the spell.  When Peter encounters Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) wreaking havoc on a highway, Strange realizes that the spell has had the unintended consequence of summoning everyone who knows Peter Parker's identity from other parts of the multiverse.  Peter, with the help of M.J. and Ned, is tasked with capturing all of the displaced villains while Strange works on another spell to send them home.  However, Peter begins to have second thoughts about dooming them to their fates.  This installment expands upon the character development that began in Far From Home and shows Peter wrestling with both the responsibility and the consequences of being Spider-Man.  As much as I enjoyed Peter's awkward teenage antics in the first two films, I loved the grittier tone and higher stakes of this installment and Holland gives a brilliant performance.  I also enjoyed the character arcs of the various villains as well as the performances of the actors in these roles.  The final battle is both exciting, with lots of hand-to-hand combat, and surprisingly poignant.  As a fan of the Spider-Man franchise in all of its past iterations I absolutely loved the nostalgia of this movie (see the aforementioned reference to my tears) but my nephew loved it, too!  I cannot recommend this movie enough!