The Ugly Stepsister

I had planned on seeing The Ugly Stepsister at Sundance this year and I was even in line for the screening but I decided that I was too tired to enjoy it and went home instead (festival fatigue is real).  When I saw that it was playing at the Broadway, I went to a matinee yesterday and I really liked this twisted take on Cinderella.  Rebekka (Ane Dahl Torp) marries Otto (Ralph Carlsson) because she thinks he is wealthy but is dismayed to learn that he was penniless after he dies.  She now must take care of her daughters Elvira (Lea Myren) and Alma (Flo Fagerli), as well as her new stepdaughter Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Naess), on her own.  She believes that the only solution is for one of her daughters to marry well and, since Alma is too young, she pins her hopes on Elvira even though she thinks that she is unattractive.  Elvira fantasizes about marrying Prince Julian (Isac Calmroth) so, when it is announced that he is throwing a ball, she submits to her mother's primitive and painful attempts to make her beautiful even though her personality deteriorates as her physical appearance improves.  The prince seems to fall in love with her at the ball but he ignores her when an enchanted version of Agnes suddenly appears.  When Elvira realizes that it is Agnes who has stolen her prince, she moves to attack her but Agnes escapes leaving behind her shoe.  The prince declares that he will only marry the girl whose foot fits inside the shoe so a desperate Elvira maims herself (this occurs in the original fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm).  What I found interesting is that every character is extremely unsympathetic (even Agnes because she is really in love with the stable boy but is willing to marry the prince to escape her stepmother) except for Alma, who cares nothing for beauty and does most of the work around the estate, and it is she who ultimately rescues Elvira.  The commentary on the lengths to which women will go to be beautiful reminded me of The Substance but this takes the body horror to a whole new level!  It is sometimes really gross and there was a scene involving a tape worm that actually made me gag (there were lots of audible reactions from the crowd to several other scenes).  The production design, costumes, and score are all what you would expect from a traditional fairy tale so this subversive take is a lot of fun!  I dug it but I would only recommend it to those with strong stomachs!

The Wedding Banquet

There was a lot of buzz for The Wedding Banquet at Sundance this year and I had the opportunity to see it but, because it already had a release date (I saw a trailer for it at the Broadway before Sundance even started), I decided to see something else (the film I saw instead was Rebuilding with Josh O'Connor and I ended up loving it so it was a good decision).  It is now playing at the Broadway so I saw it last night with my nephew and I have to admit that I was a little disappointed because it is very different from what I was expecting.  Lee (Lily Gladstone) and Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) are a lesbian couple hoping to have a child through IVF but two attempts have failed and they are not sure if they can afford a third.  Chris (Bowen Yang), Angela's aimless best friend from college, lives in their garage with his boyfriend Min (Han Gi-chan), the scion of a wealthy family in Korea who is about to lose his student visa.  Min proposes to Chris but he refuses because he knows that Min's family will disown him and cut him off financially if they find out he is gay.  Min is disappointed but then decides to ask Angela to marry him instead and, in return for helping him get a green card, he will pay for the next round of IVF.  Angela agrees but complications ensue when she tells her mother May (Joan Chen), who has made supporting LGBTQ+ causes her whole personality after initially rejecting Angela, and when Min's grandmother Ja-Young (Youn Yuh-jung) decides to come for the wedding.  This is a remake of the 1993 movie of the same name by Ang Lee and, since I have not seen the original, my expectations were based on the trailer alone and it led me to expect a comedy which I did not get.  While there are a few funny moments (which all appear in the trailer), this is more dramatic with themes of acceptance and reconciliation as flawed people learn the importance of found family.  All of the characters have interesting arcs but the resolutions for some of them feel very rushed, especially Angela's fear about being a mother and Lee's anger about an infidelity.  However, I loved how Ja-Young gradually comes to understand her grandson and Youn Yuh-jung gives a lovely performance (that brought a tear to my eye).  Chen steals every scene she is in and Tran impressed me with the depth of her emotional performance but Gladstone is underused and Yang doesn't really sell the dramatic moments (he is a much better comedic actor).  I didn't hate this but I definitely didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

Note:  I really hate when the marketing for a movie is misleading.

Sinners

I finally had the opportunity to see Sinners last night with my nephew and to say that I was hyped for this movie would be an understatement.  Let me tell you now that the hype is real and I honestly cannot see anything beating this as my favorite movie of 2025.  World War I veterans Elijah "Smoke" and Elias "Stack" Moore (Michael B. Jordan) flee Chicago after stealing from the mob and return to their hometown in the Mississippi Delta to buy a sawmill from the local Klan leader and turn it into a juke joint for the Black community.  The twins recruit their young cousin Sammie (Miles Caton) to play guitar despite the fact that his father, who is a pastor, believes that his ability is supernatural.  They also employ Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo) as a piano player and Pearline (Jayme Lawson) as a singer as well as Smoke's estranged wife Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), who has a strong belief in the occult, as a cook, a field hand named Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller) as a bouncer, and Chinese shopkeepers Bo and Grace Chow (Yao and Li Jun Li, respectively) as suppliers.  At the grand opening, Stack's former girlfriend Mary (Hailee Steinfeld) appears and he tries to make her leave because she passes for white and he fears for her safety, and his, but she refuses.  Remmick (Jack O'Connell), an Irish immigrant who is a vampire, is drawn to the juke joint along with other vampires and asks to be admitted but Annie has a bad feeling and they are refused.  However, several people eventually leave, including Mary, and are turned into vampires which results in an epic confrontation after Remmick suggests that becoming vampires will help those inside fight against the racism all of them have faced.  I loved the slow build-up to the events at the juke joint because you really get to know the characters and what they have experienced as marginalized people in America, particularly the oppression of Black people in the South during the Jim Crow era (I was particularly moved by Mary because she doesn't seem to belong anywhere).  I found the use of vampires to be incredibly thought-provoking, especially in regards to assimilation, and the juxtaposition between the threat from them and the threat from the KKK is compelling.  But, most of all, I loved the way that music is portrayed as a way to connect the stories from generations in the past to those in the future and, once again, I absolutely loved the juxtaposition between a blues performance inside the juke joint (this scene, shot in one take, is absolutely brilliant and must be seen on the big screen) and an Irish jig performed outside.  The music is absolutely incredible and, as previously mentioned, Caton's performance of "I Lied to You" and O'Connell's performance of "Rocky Road to Dublin" gave me goosebumps.  Jordan is fantastic in the dual role because each brother is very distinctive (I was struck by the different ways in which the brothers interact with the women in their lives) and the rest of the cast is outstanding but Caton, in his first role, is absolutely captivating.  The cinematography, costume design, production design, sound design (there is a scene involving the memory of a lynching that is haunting), and score (Ludwig Göransson has never been better) are all incredibly immersive and I felt like watching this movie was an experience.  I really loved it and, because it is so thematically rich, I suspect that I will be seeing it again soon.

Note:  There is a mid-credits scene and an end-credits scene and both are important to the narrative so be sure to stick around!

Indiana Jones Marathon

My sister Kristine and I have really enjoyed going to movie marathons at the Megaplex (we've been to the Harry Potter and Twilight marathons) so yesterday we went to another one for the Indiana Jones franchise and this time Trent joined us.  It featured the original trilogy and it was so much fun to see these movies again on the big screen.  The intrepid archaeologist Dr. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) joins forces with his former girlfriend Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) to locate the Ark of the Covenant before his nemesis Rene Belloq (Paul Freeman) can give it to the Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark, he and his sidekick Short Round (Ke Huy Quan) inadvertently team up with a nightclub singer named Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) to rescue children kidnapped by an evil cult searching for sacred stones in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and he must work with his estranged father Dr. Henry Jones (Sean Connery) to find the Holy Grail when he learns that Walter Donovan (Julian Glover), the wealthy businessman who hired him to find it, and Dr. Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody), the art historian with whom he has been working, are in league with the Nazis in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.  These movies have lots of really exciting action sequences and some of my favorites are a boat chase through the canals of Venice, a fight near the propeller of a plane, a high speed cart chase through a mine, an aerial dog fight between a biplane and two fighter planes, a fight on the top of a moving tank that eventually goes over a cliff, a jump from a plane in an inflatable raft, a fight for control of a speeding truck, and a giant boulder rolling through a corridor in a temple (I think the special effects hold up really well).  I love the maps that show the routes taken around the world and I may or may not have cheered out loud the first time I heard the instantly recognizable fanfare from "The Raiders Theme" by John Williams (this crowd was very subdued compared to the other marathons). The character of Indiana Jones is iconic with his signature fedora and bullwhip and I really enjoyed seeing his ingenuity in action as he follows the clues (and avoids booby traps) in search of treasure.  Ford is a great action hero (he did most of his own stunts) and his taciturn demeanor reminds me of Humphrey Bogart.  Connery is a hoot, especially in his humorous interactions with Ford (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is my favorite in the series), and I love Allen's feisty portrayal of Marion but I think Capshaw is really annoying as Willie (Kristine tried to count how many times she screams but she lost track).  I always love revisiting movies from my youth because I like to see if they still affect me in the same way and these movies definitely do!  Seeing them again was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Note:  We can't wait for the next marathon at the Megaplex!  Trent would like to see one for the Mission: Impossible franchise and I am still hoping for The Hunger Games.

Mozart's Requiem

One of my all-time favorite movies is Amadeus.  I have a very vivid memory of watching it for the first time on HBO when I was in high school because, for some reason, I was in my parents' room instead of the family room downstairs.  They wanted to go to bed but I was so engrossed that they let me continue watching it to the end.  It was the first movie that I owned (on VHS) and I watched it obsessively.  I also bought the soundtrack (on vinyl) and I loved it so much that my parents took me to my first Utah Symphony concert because the program featured Mozart's Requiem.  I will never forget that concert because it was my introduction to hearing classical music performed live (I have been a Utah Symphony subscriber ever since) and I was completely overcome hearing a piece that I loved so much (my parents both fell asleep).  The program for last night's Utah Symphony concert included three pieces by Mozart that are featured in Amadeus and I was so excited that I could hardly contain myself (I have been looking forward to it since the season was announced a year ago).  The orchestra began with the Overture to The Magic Flute and, even though it is not my favorite opera by Mozart (that would be Don Giovanni), I really enjoyed it because it is very playful, especially the unexpected use of the brass in the opening notes.  Next came Symphony No. 25 and, while I love all of it, the first movement is my favorite because it is incredibly stirring (I love the syncopation) and I know every single note because it is played over the opening credits in Amadeus as Salieri is rushed through the streets of Vienna after attempting suicide (I saw this scene in my mind as I listened to it).  After the intermission, the orchestra was joined by Soprano Deanna Breiwick, Mezzo-Soprano Cecelia Hall, Tenor Matthew Newhouse, Baritone Levi Hernandez, and the Utah Symphony Chorus for the Requiem.  I am fascinated by this piece because it is hauntingly beautiful and, while the movie definitely takes many liberties with how it was composed, the true story is still very intriguing because it is believed that a mysterious figure commissioned a Requiem Mass with the intention of passing it off as his own and, of course, it is incredibly tragic that Mozart died before completing it.  The performance was spectacular and I had goosebumps many times throughout but my favorite sections were the Kyrie because the double fugue is so intense, the Confutatis because I love the arpeggios by the strings as the women sing (this is what Mozart is writing with Salieri on his deathbed in the movie), and the Lacrimosa because it is atmospheric and mournful (this is what plays during Mozart's funeral in the movie).  I loved this concert so much and I am sure that I will be on a high from it for days!  I highly recommend getting a ticket for tonight's concert featuring the same program (go here) but act quickly because there were very few empty seats last night.

Note:  Now I want to watch Amadeus again!