Nightmare Alley

Last night I went back to my favorite art house theater to see Nightmare Alley, a neo-noir thriller by director Guillermo del Toro that I really enjoyed.  After disposing of a body and setting fire to his house, Stan Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) takes a bus going anywhere and joins the traveling carnival at the end of the line owned by Clem (Willem Dafoe).  At first he does odd jobs but soon he is drawn to a clairvoyant named Madame Zeema (Toni Collette) and her mentalist husband Pete (David Strathairn).  He assists with their act and asks that they teach him their techniques for conning the audience.  When he becomes involved with Molly (Rooney Mara), a fellow performer, he suggests that they leave the carnival and use these techniques in a more lucrative setting and she eventually agrees.  After a psychologist named Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett) attempts to expose him during a performance in a swanky nightclub, Stan conspires with her to con Ezra Grindle (Richard Jenkins), a wealthy but dangerous businessman with a secret only she knows.  But who is conning who?   Del Toro once again effectively emphasizes that monsters are often not who or what we think they are and I loved the juxtaposition between the grotesque at the carnival and the glittering Art Deco interiors in the city.  I also really enjoyed the stylized cinematography, the atmospheric lighting design, and the menacing sound design.  The entire cast is outstanding but Cooper is particularly good as a man who cannot outrun his past (his performance in the final scene is absolutely devastating) and Blanchett is the perfect femme fatale.  It is absolutely fascinating to watch them manipulate each other.  If you are a fan of del Toro, you are sure to enjoy this mesmerizing tale about the dark side of human nature. 

The Lost Daughter

During the week between Christmas and New Year's I love going to see as many movies as I can and, now that I have seen most of the big Christmas releases, I have quite a few independent films on my list.  Last night I returned to my favorite art house theater for the first time since the pandemic began to see The Lost Daughter, Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut.  Leda Caruso (Olivia Colman) is a professor of comparative literature on holiday alone at a resort on a Greek island.  While she is sunbathing peacefully, the beach is invaded by a large and boisterous family and she immediately becomes fixated on a young woman named Nina (Dakota Johnson) and her three-year-old daughter Elena (Athena Martin).  She sees that Nina is unhappy in her role as a mother and this brings up memories of her own claustrophobia as a young mother (played by Jessie Buckley) juggling her responsibilities to her daughters with a promising academic career.  When Leda sees Nina becoming involved with Will (Paul Mescal), an employee of the resort, she fears that Nina will repeat the mistakes of her past when she chose an affair with a scholar (Peter Sarsgaard) who admired her work over her daughters.  Colman gives a brilliant performance as a complex and somewhat unsympathetic character because, even though there is not a lot of dialogue, she conveys everything that Leda is thinking and feeling with just an expression.  Johnson and Buckley are also superb at portraying the feeling of being trapped by the responsibility of motherhood and the societal expectations that come with this role.  Gyllenhaal infuses every shot with a tension that is palpable, especially with regards to a certain prop.  There were many times when I felt that Leda was in danger and this uncertainty kept me completely riveted.  To be sure, this is a psychological character study with a narrative that is often very ambiguous rather than straightforward but I liked it and would recommend it.

Sing 2

Last night Marilyn and I took Sean and Tashena to see Sing 2 and we had so much fun.  I really enjoyed the first movie but I think I liked this one even more!  Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) and his troupe have a hit show at his newly renovated theater but he aspires to greater things.  When a talent scout named Suki (Chelsea Peretti) dismisses him as a small-time player, he is encouraged by his patron Nana Noodleman (Jennifer Saunders) to take the show to Redshore City and audition for an entertainment mogul named Jimmy Crystal (Bobby Cannavale).  When Crystal rejects their act, Gunter (Nick Kroll) pitches his idea for an elaborate production starring Clay Calloway (Bono), a legendary rock star who has not performed for fifteen years.  Crystal enthusiastically backs this show because of Calloway's supposed participation but each member of the troupe faces a crisis of confidence during rehearsals.  Rosita (Reese Witherspoon) is scared of heights and is unable to perform the stunts required for the show so her role is given to Crystal's spoiled daughter Porsha (Halsey), Johnny (Taron Egerton) clashes with choreographer Klaus Kickenklober (Adam Buxton), Meena (Tori Kelly) is nervous about performing a romantic duet with the self-absorbed Darius (Eric Andre), Ash (Scarlett Johansson) is disillusioned when her idol refuses to perform, Calloway must overcome the devastating loss of his muse, Porsha has something to prove to her father who believes her to be an embarrassment, and Buster feels intimidated by Crystal and wants to cancel the show.  Does this ragtag group have what it takes to make it big?  As a huge fan of Bono, I really loved Clay Calloway and, while every character has a similar arc, I especially enjoyed watching him find the confidence to perform again after a long absence.  I had a tear in my eye as he listens to the crowd sing one of his songs after fearing that he had been forgotten.  I loved all of the songs used in this movie but my niece had to tell me to stop singing when "Where The Streets Have No Name," "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of," and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" were performed and I immediately downloaded the new U2 song "Your Song Saved My Life" which was written especially for the movie.  Sean and Tashena liked this movie as much as I did (they were singing "There's Nothing Holding Me Back") so I highly recommend it as a fun movie for families to see over the Christmas break.

Christmas 2021

Christmas was a little bit subdued this year because we were missing the one member of our family who loved Christmas the most and it wasn't the same without him.  We all had fewer presents because we didn't have as much free time to prepare but we were all very happy to be together and spent a lot of time reminiscing about past Christmases.

We really enjoyed having Thanksgiving dinner from Cracker Barrel this year so we decided to do it again for Christmas dinner.  This time we chose Olive Garden and it was delicious!  Later in the evening we played Shanghai rummy again (we love playing cards).  This time Kristine won (I have had a streak of bad luck).  It ended up being a really nice day.

I hope you were able to have a wonderful Christmas with the ones you love.

Christmas Eve 2021

We have a tradition of opening one present each on Christmas Eve and it is always new pajamas.  My Mom was pretty excited about her pajamas but Sean was absolutely thrilled because his have the Flash (his favorite comic book character) on them.  After opening presents, we once again played Shanghai rummy (and ate so many treats).  It got pretty boisterous and at one point we were all laughing so hard we couldn't breathe.  It felt really good because we haven't had many opportunities to laugh for the past few months.  Trent beat all of us again but we have all vowed that he is going down when we play again tonight!