Your Monster

A screening of Your Monster was the most fun I had at Sundance this year so I was really excited to see it again with my nephew at the Broadway last night.  I was afraid that I might have hyped it up too much (like I did for My Old Ass) but he told me that it was awesome as we walked out!  Aspiring actress Laura Franco (Melissa Barrera) moves back into her childhood home after her boyfriend Jacob Sullivan (Edmund Donovan) breaks up with her during her cancer treatment.  She wallows in self-pity until the monster (Tommy Dewey) she banished to her closet as a young girl suddenly reappears.  She tries to repress her anger and jealousy when Jacob gives the part he wrote for her in his new Broadway musical to another actress and then pursues an affair with her but the monster helps Laura to find her voice (and revenge) again.  This is a hilarious mash-up of a romantic comedy and a horror movie (with a little bit of musical theatre thrown in) and there were multiple times when I laughed out loud (the ending is absolutely bonkers in the best possible way).  I also really enjoyed the theme of female empowerment and the use of an actual monster to represent the inner rage that Laura feels is a clever twist.  Barrera is incredibly charming with great comedic timing as well as tremendous chemistry with Dewey and it was nice to see her show off her musical theatre background again with her lively performance of the songs and choreography.  The prosthetics for the monster are fantastic and I loved Laura's theatre kid aesthetic!  This is really delightful and I recommend seeing it for Halloween!

Note:  It would be a great double feature with Lisa Frankenstein.

Pumpkin Carving 2024

Last night we had our annual pumpkin carving party and it was a lot of fun!  I keep waiting for the day when Sean says he doesn't want to continue with these holiday traditions but I'm so happy that he wanted to carve pumpkins this year.  We all went a bit old school with our designs but my favorite one was Sean's "Pumpkin Pie."

I love this Halloween tradition!

Conclave

Last night I joined a large crowd at the Broadway to see Conclave and I found it riveting!  After the pope dies of a heart attack, Thomas Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), as dean of the College of Cardinals, is tasked with overseeing the conclave to elect the next pontiff.  He is surprised by the unexpected appearance of Vincent Cardinal Benitez (Carlos Diehz), who was created a cardinal in secret because of how dangerous his ministry is in Afghanistan, but he soon completes preparations and the cardinals are sequestered.  No candidate has a majority after the first ballot but several leaders emerge, including Aldo Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci), a progressive who wants to continue the liberal policies of the late pope, Geoffredo Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto), a traditionalist who wants to return the church to the days before Vatican II, Joseph Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow), an ambitious and power-hungry cardinal, and Joshua Cardinal Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati), a charismatic cardinal who would be the first Black pope.  Amidst all of the pageantry, ceremony, and ancient traditions, there are also hushed whispers and sinister machinations behind closed doors.  Lawrence is plagued by doubt so, even though the cardinals are not supposed to allow the outside world to influence their decision, he secretly consults with his assistant Monsignor Raymond O'Malley (Brian F. O'Byrne) and with Sister Agnes (Isabella Rossellini), one of the nuns in charge of the cardinals' temporal needs, and finds damaging information on each of the candidates.  His decision about whether to use this information is complicated by the fact that he has become a leading candidate himself.  I was absolutely fascinated by the focus on all of the arcane procedures involved in electing a new pope but I was also on the edge of my seat from all of the twists and turns in this tense thriller.  There are a lot of powerful themes explored and, even though some might find the resolution controversial, I think it is very hopeful and inspiring.  I loved the stunning visuals, particularly the juxtaposition between the white marble of the Vatican architecture and the iconic red robes worn by the cardinals, the production design, including the elaborate re-creation of the Sistine Chapel, and the bombastic score.  I was impressed by the entire cast but Fiennes gives one of the best performances of his considerable career in a captivating and complex role.  I loved this and think it is one of the best movies I've seen this year.

The Mousetrap at OPPA

Last night I went to On Pitch Performing Arts to see Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap and I can't think of a better play to see in October! Mollie Ralston (Rachel Pullan) and her husband Giles (Tyler Probasco) have converted their large estate, Monkswell Manor, into a guesthouse and are nervously awaiting their first paying customers during a severe snowstorm. News of a grisly murder with ties to a neighboring village reaches the manor just as the guests, including Christopher Wren (Peter Davis), Mrs. Boyle (Wendy Ottmanns), Major Metcalf (Ken Hadlock), and Miss Casewell (Megan Chase), arrive one by one. An unexpected guest, Mr. Paravacini (Joey Engh), arrives rather suspiciously a few hours later after his car is overturned in a snowdrift and Detective Sergeant Trotter (Donovan Crane) skis his way to the snowbound manor to investigate a clue about the aforementioned murder. When one of the guests, who has a mysterious connection to the murder victim, is found dead it seems that everyone has a secret and it is up to Sergeant Trotter to solve the crime before another murder occurs. Information about each character's backstory is revealed very slowly and strict attention must be paid in order to discover the solution. I loved watching a young boy sitting across the stage from me because his eyes would light up whenever he made an important connection (I think he even figured out the big twist before it happened). Some of the acting is a little bit stilted but I really enjoyed Davis as the eccentric Wren because he has a nervous energy that is palpable and Engh as Paravacini because he is so flamboyant (I loved his ruffled shirt, cravat, and fur coat) and his facial expressions are hilarious (I found myself watching him even when the attention was on someone else because he is always in character and his reactions and bits of business are so over the top). The elaborate set, along with the one for Next to Normal, is one of my favorites at OPPA and I particularly loved the large picture window through which you can see falling snow (and through which Sergeant Trotter makes his entrance), the wood paneling and wallpaper, the Victorian-era furniture, the many doors, and the staircase. I also liked the attention to detail with all of the props, especially the old-fashioned radio and telephone. The pacing was sometimes sluggish but it was opening night so it will probably tighten up. My only other criticism is that the cast didn't give the traditional admonition to keep the ending a secret from future audiences at the end of the show! Nevertheless, I did thoroughly enjoy this murder mystery and I recommend it for a fun night out this spooky season. It runs Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays through November 16 (go here for tickets).

Venom: The Last Dance

I have been kind of hot and cold with the Venom franchise (I hated the first one but I enjoyed the relationship between Eddie and Venom in the second one) so I was eager to see where I would land with Venom: The Last Dance.  I saw it with my nephew last night and I think it has a lot of heart but the story is a mess.  After the battle with Carnage, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is now on the run from General Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who, along with Dr. Teddy Payne (Juno Temple), is trying to capture all of the symbiotes in order to study them at an underground lab below Area 51 and Venom discovers that he is being hunted by a Xenophage, a symbiote sent by an imprisoned deity named Knull (Andy Serkis), in order to capture a Codex that was created within Eddie and Venom that can free him (we learn all of this from lots of stilted exposition dumps).  Several battles with both Strickland and the Xenophage ensue before Eddie and Venom are helped by a family of hippies, led by Martin Moon (Rhys Ifans) and his wife Nova (Alanna Ubach), on their way to Area 51 in search of aliens.  Venom eventually realizes that there is only one way to defeat the Xenophage and this leads to an epic confrontation at Area 51.  The narrative has multiple plot holes and plot contrivances but, even worse, there are several extended sequences that are essentially meaningless fillers, including a sing-along to "Space Oddity" with the hippie family and a dance sequence between Venom and Mrs. Chen (Peggy Lu), who just happens to be in Las Vegas, to "Dancing Queen."  The action set pieces in the third act are exciting but it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between all of the different symbiotes set loose from the lab who are fighting multiple Xenophages sent by Knull and, at one point, I groaned out loud because it is obvious that much of it is in service of setting up future characters.  The highlight of this installment is, once again, the relationship between Eddie and Venom, which includes several incredibly poignant moments culminating in a montage of all of their exploits set to "Memories" by Maroon 5, and Hardy is as goofy as ever as the straight man to Venom's comedy.  This ranks above Venom but below Venom: Let There Be Carnage for me but I suspect people will like it more than I did.

Note:  There is a mid-credits scene and a post-credits scene (but they are both a bit anticlimactic).