The Lost City

I had the chance to see an early access screening of The Lost City last night and, even though I am not a big fan of romantic comedies (for some reason I really dislike the abbreviation often used for this genre), I really enjoyed it!  Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) is a romance novelist who is still grieving the death of her husband.  She has become a recluse but Beth (Da'Vine Joy Randolph), her publicist, needs her to promote her latest book, The Lost City of D, which features a recurring character named Dash McMahon who is searching for a valuable artifact.  Beth invites Alan Caprison (Channing Tatum), the model who has portrayed Dash on all of Loretta's covers, to join her on the book tour but Loretta dismisses him as superficial.  An eccentric billionaire named Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe) kidnaps Loretta because he believes the artifact in her novel is real and wants her to help him find it.  Alan, wanting to prove to Loretta that he is more than just a dimwitted model, attempts to rescue her and chaos ensues as both Loretta and Alan are ill-equipped to deal with the jungle.  The physical comedy is absolutely hilarious, especially since Loretta is wearing a purple sequin jumpsuit and high heels, and I laughed out loud multiple times (as did the audience).  Bullock and Tatum are incredibly charming and their chemistry is off the charts!  I also really enjoyed Radcliffe as a petulant villain and Brad Pitt just about steals the show as a former Navy SEAL (I laughed so hard when he flips his hair).  This doesn't reinvent the wheel but, in my opinion, it doesn't need to because it is so much fun.  I had a great time watching this movie and you can be sure that if I liked it fans of the genre are sure to love it!

The Outfit

Since I was out of town last weekend, I missed several new releases that are on my list.  I decided to see one of them, The Outfit, last night and I really enjoyed it.  Leonard Burling (Mark Rylance) is a meticulous and fastidious cutter (not just a tailor) who learned his trade on Savile Row in London and now makes suits for members of the mob, the only clientele who can afford his services, in Chicago during the 1950s.  There is more to Burling than meets the eye because it is implied that he left London under mysterious circumstances.  He keeps to himself as the members of the Boyle crime family, the boss Roy (Simon Russell Beale), his son Richie (Dylan O'Brien), and their enforcer Francis (Johnny Flynn), use his shop as a drop but his receptionist Mable (Zoey Deutch) notices everything.  Over the course of one evening, Richie is shot and he and Francis take refuge in Burling's shop in order to elude a rival crime family.  Eventually, Roy and his henchman (Alan Mehdizadeh) show up looking for them and for evidence of a rat who has been informing on them to the FBI.  Burling and Mable are coerced into helping them but who is double-crossing whom?  This is definitely a slow burn (there is an extended sequence in which Burling demonstrates the entire process of creating a suit, including making the pattern, transferring it to the cloth, cutting it, and sewing the pieces together) but I found it very compelling.  The tension builds and builds with lots of unexpected twists and turns and, just when I thought I had everything figured out, there was a new revelation that made me rethink everything I thought I knew!  All of the action takes place in a single setting, almost as if it is a stage play, but Burling's shop provides many opportunities for misdirection with all of its nooks and crannies and I loved the production design.  Rylance is always at his best when portraying an ordinary man caught up in extraordinary circumstances and he is absolutely mesmerizing, even when he doesn’t say a word.  This is a very well-crafted crime thriller that will keep you guessing and I highly recommend it!

Spring Camping Trip

For the past three days I have been at my favorite KOA in Fillmore relaxing!  I needed a little getaway and I couldn't think of anything better than sitting on the front porch of a cabin and reading all day.  I really like this KOA because it is in the middle of nowhere so it is very quiet and peaceful and it is close enough that it doesn't require a lot of travel time (it is about two hours south of where I live) but far enough away to feel like a real getaway.  I have been coming here for years (by myself and with various members of my family) and the former owners knew me by name.  There are new owners now but they are very kind and welcoming and I had to laugh when they offered to show me the way to my cabin because I've stayed in this exact one several times (as well as others).  I didn't take any day trips this time because I just wanted to relax but there are quite a few things to do within driving distance.  The weather was a bit too cold to stay outside for long periods (it even snowed on Sunday) so I spent most of the day inside the cabin reading under a blanket (the cabin has a heater) which was wonderful.  I spent the evening watching movies on my laptop before falling asleep to the sound of rain hitting the roof.  It was perfect!  My sisters and I are caring for our Mom full-time now and I really appreciate the fact that they were willing to pick up the slack so I could have a weekend away!  It was exactly what I needed!

Jazz Game With Angela

It has been more than two years since I have been to a Jazz game (the last time I went was over Christmas break in 2019 with Sean and Tashena) and I have really missed going!  It has also been almost two years since I have seen any of my former colleagues from Hunter High and I have really missed them.  My friend and former colleague, Angela, invited me to the Jazz game against the Los Angeles Clippers last night and it was so much fun to catch up and watch the game together!  Even though quite a few players, including my favorite Donovan Mitchell, were out for injuries, it was a really good game and the atmosphere at the Vivint Arena was positively electric.  The Jazz took an early 17-4 lead in the first few minutes of the first quarter and they never gave it up!  They went on a 30-4 run before half-time and that got the crowd on their feet cheering!  The Jazz lost a little momentum in the third quarter but were never in any danger of losing the lead and ended up beating the Clippers 121-92.  It was really exciting to watch because Rudy Gobert, Jordan Clarkson, Eric Paschall, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Jared Butler were all on fire and ended the night in double digits.  Both Angela and I had smiles on our faces during the entire game and I had such a great time.  She invited me to another game next month and I am so excited!

The Band's Visit at the Eccles

I didn't know anything about the musical The Band's Visit, other than it won ten Tony Awards including Best Musical, before I saw the Broadway touring production last night.  It was unlike anything I have ever seen before but I found it to be a bit underwhelming, especially for a show that has received so much acclaim.  The Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra arrives at the Tel Aviv airport in Israel after being invited to perform at a cultural center in Petah Tikvah.  The representative appointed to meet them is not there so they decide to take a bus.  However, they mispronounce the name and arrive in the desert town of Bet Hatikva (the mispronunciation of the name of the town is a running joke throughout the show) instead.  They stop at a cafe owned by Dina (Janet Dacal) and, when they ask for directions to the cultural center, she figures out the mistake.  She and two of her employees, Papi (Coby Getzug) and Itzik (Clay Singer), offer to put them up for the night.  Once the band members realize that they have missed the one and only bus to Petah Tikvah and that there is only one pay phone, which is guarded by a man (Joshua Grosso) waiting endlessly for his girlfriend to call him back, they reluctantly agree.  Three of the band members, Tewfiq (Sasson Gabay), Simon (James Rana), and Haled (Joe Joseph), share their stories and have a positive effect on the lives of Dina, who feels like her life is going nowhere and yearns for a connection, Papi, who doesn't have the confidence to approach his secret crush, and Itzik, who is struggling to live up to the responsibilities of being a husband and a father.  The action is very slow and very understated and it almost seems like a series of vignettes rather than a cohesive story.  The musical numbers are also strangely unremarkable, except for "Papi Hears the Ocean" and "Answer Me" which were my favorites, and there are long periods of total silence as the characters, who speak different languages, struggle to communicate with each other in English (I found the silence very disconcerting).  None of the actors have particularly strong voices, but I was especially disappointed by Dacal because she was unable to project the strength and charisma required by her character.  I did really enjoy the traditional music played by the band members (Yoni Avi Battat, Roger Kashou, Brian Krock, Kane Mathis, and Wick Simmons) in between the scenes, the drab colors used in the minimal set juxtaposed with the bright blue of the band member's uniforms, and the message that people are more alike than different but I didn't especially like the show as a whole.  The Band's Visit has been on my list for a long time so I am glad I had the opportunity to see it.

Note:  I was extremely tired last night so there is every possibility that I was not in the proper mood to appreciate the subtleties of this show.  Others may find it more appealing (go here for more information and tickets).