M3GAN

Last night I took my nephew to see M3GAN.  We were both really looking forward to this and we had a ball with it!  After her sister and brother-in-law are killed in a car crash, Gemma (Allison Williams), a roboticist with a major toy company, becomes the guardian of her niece Cady (Violet McGraw).  She is ill-equipped to care for her niece, who is suffering from the loss of her parents, so she resumes working on a lifelike doll with artificial intelligence capable of learning and adapting (Model 3 Generative Android or M3GAN) with the hope that it will become a companion for Cady as well as help her cope with parenting duties.  When M3GAN (acted by Amie Donald and voiced by Jenna Davis) bonds with Cady in a demonstration, Gemma's boss (Ronny Chieng) believes it will be incredibly profitable for the company but Gemma becomes concerned when M3GAN takes her directive to protect Cady too far.  This is not particularly scary or gruesome and the premise is one we have seen many times before but it almost doesn't matter because M3GAN is such an amusingly diabolical character.  We saw this with a really large crowd and there were many times when everyone laughed out loud (the biggest laugh came when M3GAN sings "Titanium" as a lullaby to Cady).  In addition to the camp, there are also some incredibly poignant scenes about the nature of grief (Williams and McGraw are outstanding in several of these moments) and it is definitely a cautionary tale about our over-reliance on technology, especially when technology is used by parents as a substitute for spending time with children.  This will probably not feature on any top-ten list for the year but it is wildly entertaining and both Sean and I had so much fun watching it!

Note:  The marketing for this movie has been brilliant with life-size M3GAN dolls showing up everywhere performing that viral dance sequence!

Elgar's Enigma Variations

Last night I went to my first Utah Symphony concert of 2023 and it was certainly a good one!  The concert began with a contemporary number called Near Midnight by Helen Grime and, according to the composer, it is a moody and atmospheric piece about the reflection and introspection that occurs when when one day moves into the next.  I really liked the chimes used throughout to represent the tolling of the hour.  The orchestra continued with Scottish Fantasy by Max Bruch with Concertmaster Madeline Adkins as soloist.  This piece was inspired by several different Scottish folk songs and, as someone with Scottish heritage, I loved it!  I was especially moved by the first movement, which is based on the song "Auld Robb Morris," because it is quite mournful and features a duet between the solo violin and the harp (performed brilliantly by Louise Vickerman who is Scottish).  I also liked the second movement, which is based on the song "Dusty Miller," because it is very lively and I could picture people dancing.  I am always impressed by Adkins (I met her very briefly at a Utah Symphony after party and she was really cool) and it was fun to watch her because her performance was so passionate (I also enjoyed watching Vickerman).  After the intermission, the orchestra concluded with the Enigma Variations by Edward Elgar which is such an amazing piece.  It came about, as the story goes, when Elgar sat at the piano after a long day and began to play a theme that he made up on the spot.  His wife really liked it and asked him to play it again.  He then began playing it again and again as different sketches representing some of their friends and he had her guess who each one was.  It was really fun to listen for the central theme in each variation and, like most people, my favorite one is "Nimrod," which is based on Elgar's friend August Jaeger, because it is incredibly somber and evocative, but very beautiful (it was played at Princess Diana's funeral), and the timpani rolls get me every time!  I love hearing Christmas music but it felt really good to be back at Abravanel Hall for a Masterworks concert!  I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here) for the same program tonight!

A Man Called Otto

I really enjoyed the Swedish film A Man Called Ove so I have been looking forward to the remake, A Man Called Otto, starring Tom Hanks ever since I heard about it.  I had the chance to see it last night and, much like the original, I found it to be very touching.  Otto Anderson (Hanks) is a curmudgeonly old man who, as the former chairman of the neighborhood association, takes great pains to see that the rules are followed to the letter which sometimes puts him at odds with his neighbors.  He is also despondent over the death of his wife Sonya six months earlier (the younger version of Otto shown in flashbacks is played by Hanks' son Truman) and wants to join her but his half-hearted attempts at suicide always go awry.  A stray cat, a young pregnant woman (Mariana Trevino) who moves in across the street with her family, a transgender teenager (Mack Baydan) who takes refuge with him after he is kicked out by his father, and the former friend (Peter Lawson Jones) who staged a coup to remove him as head of the association all help him find the joy in living once again.  This is incredibly predictable and a bit manipulative (and probably didn't need to be made since it follows the original beat for beat) but I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it because it is just so heart-warming.  I think Hanks is incredibly appealing (even when he is grouchy) and he does a great job with Otto's transformation.  I also really enjoyed Trevino's charismatic performance and I loved it whenever Marisol goes toe-to-toe with Otto because she has great chemistry with Hanks.  There are some really dark themes but there is also quite a bit of humor and my audience laughed out loud many times.  This is an old-fashioned crowd-pleaser that almost everyone is sure to enjoy and I highly recommend it!

Note:  My favorite scene in A Man Called Ove is when Ove and his friend Rune have a falling out over Volvos vs. Saabs.  I'm glad that this was kept and that Otto and Reuben clash over Fords vs. Chevrolets (I laughed out loud during this moment).

The Pale Blue Eye

My first movie of 2023 was The Pale Blue Eye which I saw at the Broadway last night.  This moody and atmospheric murder mystery was actually the perfect movie to see on a gloomy and snowy winter evening.  World-weary detective Augustus Landor (Christian Bale) is summoned to West Point, the U.S. Military Academy, in secret to solve the grisly murder of a cadet before bad publicity can shut the fledgling institution down in 1830.  He is approached by another cadet named Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling), who has some ideas about the case, and the two eventually work together.   They begin to suspect that the occult is involved until Poe discovers the truth in a shocking twist.  Bale is as compelling as always and the rest of the cast, which includes Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Toby Jones, Simon McBurney, Timothy Spall, and Robert Duvall, is outstanding but Melling gives an absolutely brilliant performance as the young (and somewhat fictionalized) Poe. The bleak setting, the middle of winter in the Hudson valley, and the ominous tone really emphasize the brutality of the crime and I loved the cinematography, especially the overhead shots of snow-covered trees during the search for another missing cadet, the period costumes, and the haunting score.  I also enjoyed the Gothic horror elements (I literally jumped out of my seat when a character walks down a foggy path in the middle of the night with just a lantern for illumination) but I think the story falls apart in the third act when this genre is abandoned in favor of a more mundane ending.  Despite my disappointment with the resolution, I definitely think it is worth a watch when it starts streaming on Netflix this weekend.

2022: Year In Review

This year has had its share of difficult moments but I am finally back to feeling like myself again and the good definitely outweighed the bad.  Among other things I have had so much fun going on camping and road trips and seeing a lot of amazing theatre productions!  Here are some of the highlights!

Hamilton at the Eccles

Anastasia at the Eccles

Jazz Game With Angela

Spring Camping Trip

Jesus Christ Superstar at the Eccles

My Mom's Visitation

Zion National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park

Memorial Day Weekend

Utah Shakespeare Festival

Hadestown at the Eccles

Alice in Chains at USANA

To Kill a Mockingbird at the Eccles

The Lion King at the Eccles

Fall Camping Trip

Corn Maze with Tashena

New Car

Road trips to Las Vegas to see Jagged Little Pill, SIX, and Hamilton at the Smith Center

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 in Concert

Moulin Rouge at the Eccles

I hope everyone has a prosperous and healthy new year!  For once I am really looking forward to the new year (I already have three road trips planned) instead of feeling relieved that the old one is over!