Passages

I am a big fan of Franz Rogowski (he gives a haunting performance in Transit that I still think about) so I was really excited to see his latest movie, Passages, last night at the Broadway.  Even though he plays a thoroughly unlikable character, Rogowski is absolutely captivating as a man who initiates an emotionally damaging love triangle.  Tomas (Rogowski) is a demanding and controlling director living in Paris with his husband Martin (Ben Whishaw).  At the wrap party for his latest film Tomas has a sexual encounter with Agathe (Adele Exarchopoulos) but immediately confesses to Martin who is upset but excuses his behavior.  Tomas continues the affair with Agathe because he finds it exciting to be with a woman but soon falls in love with her and leaves Martin.  However, Tomas becomes irrationally jealous when Martin begins a relationship with an author named Ahmad (Erwan Kepoa Fale) and tries to win him back.  Complications ensue when Tomas attempts to keep both Martin and Agathe in his life only to lose them both.  Rogowski's performance is brilliant because, even though his character does so many reprehensible things, you are still drawn to him and I did feel a tiny bit of sympathy for him in a devastating final close-up shot of his eyes filled with tears (despite the fact that I silently cheered when he is forced to face the consequences of his actions).  Whishaw and Exarchopoulos also give outstanding, but highly restrained, performances as smart and successful people who make terrible decisions when it comes to the heart (we've all been there), especially in a powerful scene between Martin and Agathe that serves as a major turning point.  It is fascinating to watch the shifting power dynamics between the three characters.  There are lots of explicit sex scenes (it certainly earns its NC-17 rating) so this might not be for everyone but I found it riveting.

Note:  This also includes one of the funniest scenes I've seen in a long time.  Tomas meets Agathe's parents wearing a fishnet crop top and the look her mother (Caroline Chaniolleau) gives her father (Olivier Rabourdin) had everyone in my theater laughing out loud!

Blue Beetle

My nephew Sean and I went to see Blue Beetle last night (it was one of his most anticipated movies of the year) and we both loved it!  Jaime Reyes (Xolo Mariduena) is a recent college graduate who has returned to his hometown looking for a job.  He ends up at Kord Industries, run by the ruthless Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon) who wants to use an alien artifact known as the Scarab to create cyborg assassins known as One Man Army Corps (OMACs).  Her niece Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine) objects to this and steals the Scarab but she ends up giving it to an unsuspecting Jaime.  When the Scarab chooses Jaime to be its host and fuses with him to create a powerful armored suit, he reaches out to Jenny to learn about its origins.  However, Victoria wants it back and sends her bodyguard Ignacio Carapax (Raoul Max Trujillo), an OMAC prototype, to attack his family, including his father Alberto (Damian Alcazar), mother Rocio (Elpidia Carrillo), sister Milagro (Belissa Escobedo), uncle Rudy (George Lopez), and grandmother Nana (Adriana Barraza), forcing an epic confrontation.  There have been a lot of superhero origin stories over the years so it is inevitable that tropes have developed and, while this movie does employ many of them, I think the story is a lot of fun.  The emphasis on the importance of family provides a lot of comedy (Nana is my favorite) but also a lot of heart with several incredibly poignant moments that brought tears to my eyes.  The action sequences, which involve mostly practical effects and real-life locations, look fantastic, particularly the final battle between Blue Beetle and Carapax, and I especially loved the design of the suit. Mariduena is incredibly appealing and charismatic in the title role and, even though I was not very familiar with the character, my nephew (who is a huge fan) tells me that his portrayal is very true to the comics.  I ended up really liking the character, especially his humanity, and I am happy that Blue Beetle will be a part of the new DCU under James Gunn (a mid-credits scene sets up the second movie in a possible trilogy).  This has had a disappointing opening weekend at the box office so I highly encourage everyone to go see it because, in my opinion, it is one of the better CBMs in recent memory and both Sean and I had so much fun watching it!

None of This Is True

My August Book of the Month selection was None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell (the other options were Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo, The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin, Happiness Falls by Angie Kim, Shark Heart by Emily Habeck, and Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Canas). I am a big fan of Jewell so I was already anticipating her latest release and it did not disappoint! Josie Fair is celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at a popular pub with her husband Walter, a rare outing for the two of them, when she notices that another woman is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday with her husband and a large group of friends. Josie is captivated, maybe even obsessed, by her so-called "birthday twin" and learns that she is Alix Summers and that she has a popular podcast about women who have overcome tremendous odds to create new lives for themselves. She contrives to meet Alix again and convinces her that she would be a good subject for her podcast because she says that she is on the verge of making big changes in her life. At first Alix is wary but she is soon drawn in to the story of Josie's complicated life with her much older husband and her troubled daughters. As Josie insinuates herself into her life, Alix begins to suspect that she is hiding some incredibly dark secrets about her family and that her own family might be in danger. The narrative alternates between the POVs of Alix and Josie and also includes transcripts of the interviews conducted with other characters for Alix's podcast and scenes from a Netflix documentary filmed after the events described (which is extremely effective at creating suspense because it implies that something terrible has happened and I wanted to keep reading to find out what it was). What I loved most about this novel is that Josie is an incredibly unreliable narrator and I kept changing my mind about her as snippets of her past are revealed little by little. As with most of Jewell's other psychological thrillers, there are lots of twists and turns, including a final one that absolutely blew my mind and made me rethink everything I thought I knew about Josie. I still haven't made up my mind about her and I love it when a book does that to me. I also really enjoyed the character of Alix, especially in juxtaposition with Josie, because, even though it appears that she has a perfect life that Josie envies, there are also secrets about her family hiding under the surface. As I previously mentioned I could not put this book down because there is an atmosphere of foreboding on every page and I had to know what happened. Fans of the author are sure to love this but I recommend it to everyone who loves a good domestic thriller!

Romeo and Juliet at Parker Theatre

My least favorite Shakespeare play is Romeo and Juliet but I decided to see a production at Parker Theatre last night because my friend Karen highly recommended it and I have really come to love this theatre. They did some interesting things with it and I actually liked it! The Montagues and Capulets are two noble families of Verona who have an ancient grudge against one another that escalates when Tybalt (Zachary Ballard), a Capulet, and Benvolio (Brendan Hanks), a Montague, get into a fight on the street. They are warned by the Prince (Lucas Charon) to stop disrupting the peace with their feud or face severe consequences. Soon Romeo (Dallin Suman), a Montague, and Juliet (Isabelle Purdie), a Capulet, fall in love and secretly wed despite the fact that their families are enemies. However, they find themselves in a hopeless situation after Romeo kills Tybalt to avenge the death of his friend Mercutio (Spencer Hohl). Romeo is banished and Juliet's family forces her to marry Paris (Michael Kelly) so Friar Lawrence (Palmer Scott) devises a plan for them to be together but it ends in tragedy which ultimately leads to peace between Montague (Bryson Dumas) and Capulet (Joseph Kyle Rogan). Some creative liberties are taken with the original text and, while I am usually not a fan of doing that, I think the changes make the play more accessible. My audience responded with lots of laughter to many of the anachronistic ad-libs and to the updated character of the Nurse (Madeline Thatcher) who seems more like a sympathetic friend to Juliet rather than a caregiver. I also really liked the update to Tybalt's character because he seems incredibly volatile and irrationally angry at all of the Montagues and this serves to emphasize that the division between the two families is groundless and unreasonable. There is also an interesting twist involving Lady Montague (Missy Stebbing) that adds to the devastation in the final act. I was quite impressed with many members of the cast. Purdie, especially, gives a highly nuanced performance (a highlight of the show for me) that brilliantly showcases Juliet's arc. She is a young and naive girl when the audience first meets her but she visibly matures over the course of the play and her performance in the scenes where she mourns the death of Tybalt and discovers Romeo's dead body in the tomb is truly heartbreaking. As previously mentioned, Thatcher provides a lot of comic relief with her interactions with Juliet but her discovery of Juliet's lifeless body is incredibly affecting. I always think of Romeo as feckless (which is why I find the play to be so problematic) but Suman really leans into his immaturity, especially in the scene where the Nurse demands that a sniveling Romeo go to Juliet after the death of Tybalt (it is so powerful), and this interpretation worked for me. I also liked Hohl's Mercutio because he gives the character a swagger to match his wit. The beautiful set is another highlight of this production and I especially loved the symmetry of the balconies, arches, columns, and staircases on either side of the stage to represent the two houses. The fight choreography uses the various levels very effectively to add visual interest. Speaking of which, I was particularly struck by the lighting design in this show, which is unusual for me, because it creates so many beautiful vignettes (the wedding scene is gorgeous). Even if you are not a fan of this particular play I definitely recommend getting a ticket to this imaginative retelling (go here). It runs through September 2 with performances on Friday and Saturday evenings and Saturday matinees.

Foreigner at USANA

I have always really loved Foreigner!  I played my vinyl copy of 4 so much I scratched it in several places (now whenever I hear "Urgent" it sounds strange without the skip at the beginning).  They were one of the first bands I saw in concert when I was in high school (the University of Utah a cappella choir backed them on "I Want to Know What Love Is") and I drove to Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver just to to see them in a double bill with Journey.  I was really excited to see them again last night at USANA Amphitheatre during a stop on what has been billed the Farewell Tour.  Mick Jones is the last remaining original member of the group and, because he has had some health problems recently, the band has decided to quit touring.  He has performed very sporadically on this tour because of these ongoing health problems and he was not with the band last night.  They were, essentially, a cover band without any original members but it didn't seem to matter because there was a huge crowd who sang along with every song!  They performed all of the hits starting with "Double Vision," "Head Games," and "Cold As Ice."  Then came "Waiting for a Girl Like You," which is my favorite song by the band, and it was amazing.  After such a beautiful ballad, Kelly Hansen joked that it was time for something a bit nasty so they sang "Dirty White Boy" which got the crowd cheering.  Next came an acoustic set featuring several lesser known songs including "When It Comes To Love," "Girl on the Moon," which I actually really love (see above comment about the album 4), and "Say You Will."  They continued with "Urgent," another favorite of mine, and "Feels Like the First Time" followed by extended keyboard and drum solos and then an epic rendition of "Juke Box Hero" to finish the main set.  For the encore, they performed "I Want to Know What Love Is" with everyone holding up their phones (I always love it when the crowd does this because it looks so cool) and "Hot Blooded" with some awesome pyrotechnics!  Hansen doesn't sound exactly like Lou Gramm but I thought he did justice to the songs and I liked his banter with the crowd.  He was funny at times but was also quite poignant about the legacy of the band.  I really enjoyed this concert because these songs are filled with a lot of nostalgia for me (a recurring theme this summer) and I'm glad I made the effort to go even though I was tired from my camping trip!

Note:  The opening band was Loverboy (another band from my youth).  I had never seen them before and I enjoyed their set, especially "Lovin' Every Minute Of It," "Turn Me Loose," and "Working for the Weekend."