Fly Me to the Moon

Last night my sister and I went to an early access screening of Fly Me to the Moon (another movie on my sister's list) and we both really enjoyed it!  With support for NASA's mission to the moon waning, a marketing expert named Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson) is brought in to improve public opinion and ensure continued funding from Congress, much to the dismay of the launch director Cole Davis (Channing Tatum).  As the launch date approaches, the White House fears what a failure will mean for US-Soviet relations so Jones is coerced by a government official, Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson), to create a simulation of the moon landing as a contingency plan.  However, Jones comes to believe in the importance of the mission, and develops feelings for Davis, so will she continue to fake it?  This is a fun and lighthearted romantic comedy, with a charming performance from Johansson and amazing chemistry between her and Tatum (even though I did have a hard time believing that Tatum was smart enough to be a director at NASA), and it is a lot funnier than I was expecting (I laughed out loud every time Jim Rash appeared on the screen as the flamboyant director of the fake moon landing).  This also has more substance than I was expecting with a dark backstory for Jones and a more poignant one for Davis that really informs the decisions that they make.  The story is also really compelling because the filmmakers manage to create a lot of suspense about the moon landing (even though we all think we know what happened).  I loved the 1960s aesthetic in the production design, especially the clothes, hairstyles, and cars, and I was impressed with all of the scenes at NASA, particularly the launch of the rocket.  This is an incredibly entertaining summer blockbuster that I highly recommend!

MaXXXine

I was quite surprised by how much I loved both X and Pearl so I was really excited to see MaXXXine, the conclusion to the trilogy, at an early access screening at the Broadway last night.  It is definitely the weakest of the three movies, which is a bit disappointing, but at least I had fun watching it with a big crowd.  After surviving a massacre at a Texas farmhouse, Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) is now living in Hollywood and working in the adult entertainment industry.  She signs on to star in a horror film, The Puritan II, written and directed by Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki) because she is hoping for more mainstream success but her big break is jeopardized by a mysterious serial killer with ties to her past who is killing her friends and colleagues and using a private detective named John Labat (Kevin Bacon) to stalk her.  She evades homicide detectives Marianne Williams (Michelle Monaghan) and Ben Torres (Bobby Canavale) to confront the killer herself, in an epic battle at the Hollywood sign, and uses the notoriety to become the star she was always meant to be.  Just as X is an homage to the slasher films of the 1970s and Pearl takes inspiration from the Technicolor Golden Age of Hollywood, MaXXXine references the neo-noir erotic thrillers of the 1980s (it reminded me of a Brian De Palma movie).  It portrays the sleazy underbelly of Hollywood and the fear of the religious right about the influence of horror prevalent during the time period but these themes are not explored with any depth.  As a result, I found the climax and the big reveal of the killer to be incredibly underwhelming and I kept waiting for there to be another twist in the final few minutes.  Even though there is more style than substance, I thoroughly enjoyed the 1980s aesthetic in the costumes and production design as well as all of the needle drops, especially "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood during a club scene.  Goth is as compelling as ever, particularly in a scene involving an audition, and Bacon's over the top performance is so much fun to watch but most of the other actors are not given much to do and Debicki seems like she is in a completely different movie.  I didn't hate this but I was expecting so much more (because the previous movies are so good).

The Nutty Professor at HCT

Other than one of the best versions of Fiddler on the Roof that I've ever seen, I haven't been very impressed with the shows at HCT this season. Happily, that changed with their production of the new musical The Nutty Professor, which I was able to see last night, because it is so much fun! I don't know what I loved more: the story, the performances, the choreography, the costumes, the sets, or the projections! Julius Kelp (Spencer Jackson Hohl) is a nerdy and socially awkward chemistry professor at Korwin College who is often reprimanded by the dean, Dr. Warfield (BJ Whimpey), for blowing up his lab. He befriends Stella Purdy (Bre Welch), a new adjunct professor, but when he is humiliated by the star football players (Eric Ascione and Even McKay Naef), he decides that he must make some changes in order to impress her. He creates a serum that transforms him into the handsome and charismatic, but narcissistic, Buddy Love and soon the entire studentbody, including Stella, is under his spell. However, when Stella sees that Buddy is having a negative influence on the students, she realizes that it is Julius who she truly loves! This is a delightful and entertaining show and I love the message that it is always better to be yourself. Hohl is absolutely hilarious as Julius/Buddy because he is so good at the physical comedy! A scene where the serum wears off and he keeps transforming from Buddy to Julius and back again at inopportune times, with just a change in posture and facial expression, had me laughing out loud. He is also incredibly charming in all of the scenes with the students and it is entirely believable that Buddy could have them all swooning over him (I think Hohl may have actually taken the serum because all of the girls around me were swooning over him, too!). Welch has a beautiful voice and I especially loved her performances of "Too Much for Me" and "While I Still Have the Time." Everyone in the ensemble is insanely talented but I have to give a shoutout to Phil Lewis for the epic baton twirling! The choreography by Afton Wilson is amazing and it is worth the price of admission just to see all of the dazzling song and dance numbers. My favorites were "Dance to My Own Drummer," "(Hey Is It Me Or) Is It Hot in Here," "Buddy's Place" (especially when Julius suddenly appears and starts dancing awkwardly and then all of the students mimic him), "Everything You've Ever Learned is Wrong," and "Step Out of Your Shell" (the ballroom dancing is lovely). All of Joy Zhu's costumes are incredible (I was impressed by the sheer number of them) but I really loved the purple sequined suit worn by Buddy the first time he appears and all of the purple and yellow uniforms worn by the Korwin College cheerleaders, football players, and marching band (probably because they are the same colors as my college alma mater). I always love the sets at HCT and this one is no exception! The attention to detail in Julius' laboratory (I loved all of the neon potions in the beakers) is fabulous! Finally, the projections featuring atoms and the periodic table on the LED screens around the theater and on the stage are very amusing! I really cannot say enough about every aspect of this production and I highly recommend that you do not miss it! It runs on the Young Living Centre Stage through August 17 and tickets may be purchased here (but act quickly because many shows are sold out).

Note:  I saw Bre Welch last night in this show and her husband Addison the night before in Kiss Me Kate!

Kiss Me Kate at CPT

I went to see Kiss Me Kate at CPT a few weeks ago with my sisters but I had to leave at intermission because I was feeling sick. I was really disappointed because I had been looking forward to it and I liked it up to that point. I decided to get another ticket and, thankfully, I was able to stay for the whole show last night! Ironically, I enjoyed the first act, which I had already seen, much more than the second. This features the classic show-within-a-show conceit as a theatre company stages a musical version of Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew. Chaos ensues when life imitates art and the former husband and wife actors Fred Graham (Addison Welch) and Lilli Vanessi (Michelle Blake) engage in backstage squabbling that mirrors that of their characters Petruchio and Katherine on stage. I especially loved the scenes from The Taming of the Shrew (I will be seeing it at the Utah Shakespeare Festival later this summer) because they involve a lot of physical comedy that made me and the rest of the audience laugh out loud as Fred and Lilli actually fight with each other in character ("Were Thine That Special Face" and "I Sing of Love" were highlights because they are absolutely hilarious). I think the story takes a detour in the second act in favor of random musical numbers ("Too Darn Hot") and a less compelling subplot involving a romance between Lois Lane (Keely Parry), who plays Bianca, and Bill Calhoun (Isaac Carrillo), who plays Lucentio ("Always True to You in My Fashion" and "Bianca"), until Fred and Lilli, as well as Petruchio and Katherine, suddenly get back together without much motivation. Even though the musical numbers in the second act are extremely well done (the tapping in "Too Darn Hot" is amazing and the English teacher in me loved "Brush Up Your Shakespeare") I found my mind wandering because I wanted more hijinks from the main couple. My complaints are with the material and not with the cast because the performances are fantastic. Both Welch and Blake have beautiful voices and their renditions of "So In Love" and "Where Is the Life That Late I Led," respectively, gave me goosebumps. As previously mentioned, their comedic timing and chemistry with each other is so much fun to watch. Parry and Carillo also have beautiful voices and the ensemble is incredibly talented but Jeremy Botelho and Brandon Garside practically steal the show as gangsters collecting on an IOU who end up on stage. The choreography, particularly for "Another Op'nin, Another Show," "Tom, Dick, or Harry," and "Too Darn Hot," is incredibly dynamic and high energy. The set, featuring backstage, an alley behind the theatre, dressing rooms, as well as a curtain and backdrops for the production of The Taming of the Shrew, is brilliant and the period costumes look great. I enjoyed this production even if the show itself is not my favorite. It runs on the Barlow Main Stage through July 13 and tickets may be purchased here.

Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1

Last night I decided to see Kevin Costner's Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 because I really respect it when someone is willing to take a risk for something they are passionate about (this is why I am also eagerly awaiting Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis).  A group of rogue Apache stage a raid on a new settlement in the San Pedro Valley and massacre most of the inhabitants.  One survivor, a young boy named Russell Ganz (Etienne Kellici), joins a group of bounty hunters, led by a tracker (Jeff Fahey) interested in trading scalps for money, in order to get revenge.  Two other survivors, Frances Kitteredge (Sienna Miller) and her daughter Lizzie (Georgia MacPhail), follow Lt. Trent Gephardt (Sam Worthington) to the military fort Camp Gallant.  A horse trader named Hayes Ellison (Costner) arrives in the Wyoming Territory and, after he inadvertently runs afoul of brothers Junior and Caleb Sykes (Jon Beavers and Jamie Campbell Bower, respectively) as they search for the woman (Jena Malone) who shot their father and took their son, he flees with a prostitute (Abbey Lee) who was caring for the child.  On the Santa Fe Trail, Matthew Van Weyden (Luke Wilson) leads a group of covered wagons traveling west but an English couple, Juliette Chesney (Ella Hunt) and Hugh Proctor (Tom Payne), stirs up trouble within the group.  Tying the disparate narratives together is a poster, printed by Bailey Pickering (Giovanni Ribisi) and carried by many of the characters, advertising Horizon, the settlement attacked by the Apache.  This feels very much like the first episode of a TV miniseries where lots of characters and plots, which are sometimes hard to keep track of due to some major issues with pacing, are tantalizingly introduced but not developed or connected (there is even a montage at the end featuring scenes from the next episode).  Having said that, I do feel invested enough in the fate of these characters to see Chapter 2 (which will be released in August).  I also think the beautiful and sweeping cinematography, which showcases the grandeur of the West (it was filmed in Utah where I live), warrants releasing this on the big screen rather than as a TV show.  I did end up enjoying this (I really liked Costner's performance and direction) but I can only recommend it to people who are willing to commit to the entire saga (which could be four separate movies) because it definitely does not work as a standalone.