The Mastermind

The next movie in the double feature with my nephew at the Broadway last night was The Mastermind.  I am a fan of Kelly Reichardt's brooding and contemplative character studies and I think the protagonist of this movie might be her most intriguing one yet.  James Blaine "J.B." Mooney (Josh O'Connor) is an unemployed former art student who is supported by his wife Terri (Alana Haim) and his wealthy, but disapproving, parents Sarah (Hope Davis) and William (Bill Camp) in the suburban town of Framingham, Massachusetts where his father serves as the local judge.  It is 1970 and the Vietnam War continues on but J.B. is seemingly unaffected by it and the attendant protests all around him (there are many references to both in the background of the action).  He meticulously plans a robbery in broad daylight of four paintings by Arthur Dove from the local art museum with Guy Hickey (Eli Gelb), Larry Duffy (Cole Doman), and Ronnie Gibson (Javion Allen) and, even though the heist is initially successful, everything that can go wrong does go wrong and J.B. is ill-equipped to deal with the fallout.  He ends up on the run where help is either not forthcoming, from his art school friends Fred and Maude (John Magaro and Gaby Hoffman, respectively) or his long-suffering wife, or not available until he is finally held accountable for his actions for maybe the first time in his life.  This is definitely more character-driven than plot-driven because the action in the second half is incredibly slow, almost maddeningly so, with lots of static shots of J.B. trying to figure out what to do which seem to go on much longer than necessary.  How J.B. responds is much more important that what he responds to and this is ultimately very effective but I admit that I got a bit fidgety.  However, I found the narrative to be very thought-provoking because, in my opinion, J.B. is a symbol for an America that lost its way prosecuting a war it could not win.  I also loved the 1970s aesthetic in the production design, costumes, and cinematography, the Jazz-inspired score, and the understated performance from O'Connor (he excels at playing rumpled anti-heroes).  I recommend this to fans of Reichardt but others might find it boring.

Note:  The first movie in our double feature appealed specifically to me and this one appealed specifically to my nephew!

Blue Moon

Last night my nephew and I had another double feature at the Broadway (they are becoming a regular occurrence for us).  We started with Blue Moon and, even though I really liked it, I can definitely see why others might not.  Before Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott) worked with Oscar Hammerstein II (Simon Delaney), he had a successful 24-year partnership with Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke) before the latter's self-destructive behavior forced a split.  During the opening night performance of Oklahoma!, the first collaboration between Rodgers and Hammerstein, Hart slips away to Sardi's restaurant to commiserate with Eddie (Bobby Cannavale) the bartender and Morty (Jonah Lees) the piano player.  He is openly critical of Oklahoma! (my favorite comment is that it will be performed by high schools until the end of time because it is so inoffensive) but he knows that it will be a bigger hit than any of his shows with Rodgers so he can barely bring himself to congratulate him when he arrives for the afterparty.  When Hart proposes a new project for the two of them to work on, Rodgers remains skeptical about his depression and alcoholism.  His spirits are momentarily lifted at the arrival of Elizabeth Weiland (Margaret Qualley), his 20-year-old protege, because he has unrequited feelings for her and is hoping to impress her with his connections to the Broadway world.  When she abandons him to attend another party with Rodgers, it is a confirmation of both his personal and professional failings but he hides his heartbreak and continues regaling Eddie and Morty with yet another story.  This features a lot of dialogue (Broadway fans will find many fun references) and takes place in one location in real time (almost like a chamber play) so it is very slow but I found it surprisingly compelling because of Hawke's brilliant and transformative performance as the talented but tormented songwriter.  You can always see the pain behind the bravado (although it is distracting to see the balding wig that he wears) and I was impressed by his physicality as a man who is embarrassed by his short stature.  Scott is also outstanding (he won the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance at the Berlin Film Festival), especially in a highly charged scene where Rodgers expresses both his gratitude for and frustration with Hart.  Qualley does a great job but she sometimes feels very out of place, in my opinion, because she is so anachronistic in this time period.  As a fan of Broadway musicals, I really enjoyed this but I don't think the stellar performances will be enough to make this appealing for those who do not share a similar interest.

Nuremberg

Last night my nephew and I were able to attend an early screening of Nuremberg which included a livestreamed Q&A with Russell Crowe and the director James Vanderbilt.  It is very compelling and, unfortunately, very timely.  After the surrender of Hermann Goring (Crowe), the Allies disagree over how to bring him and the other captured Nazi leaders to justice.  The Soviets propose a show trial with a predetermined outcome while the British advocate for summary executions.  U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson (Michael Shannon) wants to punish them but he also wants to show the world irrefutable evidence of what the Nazis did so he proposes a public military tribunal conducted by the Americans, British, French, and Soviets in Nuremberg, the site of many Nazi rallies.  Dr. Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek), a military psychiatrist, is brought to the prison to determine if the defendants are competent to stand trial and he engages in a thrilling battle of wits with Goring.  However, as Kelley spends more and more time with Goring, his opinion of him becomes increasingly sympathetic, especially after he delivers letters to Goring's wife Emmy (Lotte Verbeek) and daughter Edda (Fleur Bremmer), until the true nature of what occurred in the concentration camps is revealed during the trial.  This prompts him to disclose privileged information to Jackson to help him incriminate Goring on the stand.  This movie is riveting and my attention never wavered during the entire two and a half hour runtime.  There are several moments that I found to be incredibly powerful, including a scene when a translator played by Leo Woodall tries to convince Kelley to help Jackson by saying that the atrocities committed by the Nazis happened because people stood by and did nothing and a scene when Kelley is promoting his book about the trials and says that what happened in Nazi Germany will happen again because people abandon their humanity in the pursuit of power, and I think this is definitely a movie that everyone should see right now.  The supporting cast is outstanding, particularly Woodall (as Sgt. Howie Triest) who gives the aforementioned emotional monologue about being an advocate for the Jews who died, John Slattery (as Col. Burton Andrus) who provides a bit of levity as the no-nonsense commandant of the prison, and Richard E. Grant (as the British prosecutor Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe) who has a stand-up-and-cheer moment during the trial.  Malek, Crowe, and Shannon give brilliant performances (I think it is the best of Malek's career) and their interactions are explosive, especially when Jackson reminds Kelley of the importance of what they are doing in the ruins of the Nazi parade grounds, when Kelley confronts Goring about the concentration camps, and when Jackson interrogates Goring on the stand.  Crowe mentioned in the Q&A that they were able to film the trial scene in one day because he and Shannon are from Krypton (an amusing reference to their characters from Man of Steel).  I loved the verisimilitude in the production design (most notably the accuracy in the recreation of the courtroom), because it allows for the seamless integration of real footage (the film showing the actual liberation of the camps is incredibly harrowing to watch), and in the costumes (Goring is known for wearing light blue uniforms of his own design).  This is a thrilling and entertaining movie but it is also an important one and I highly recommend it.

Maroon 5 at the Delta Center

I randomly heard the song "Harder to Breathe" on the radio in my car late at night more than twenty years ago and I loved it but I didn't hear the name or the artist.  As hard as it is to believe in 2025, I had a really hard time finding out this information because none of my friends or students had heard it (kids today will never know the pain of listening to the radio for hours just to hear a particular song).  When I eventually figured it out, I bought Maroon 5's debut album Songs About Jane and listened to it incessantly (the CD survived the massive purge I did before moving into my current house).  I was so obsessed with the song and album that I went to see a band I didn't especially like (Matchbox Twenty) just because Maroon 5 was opening for them.  I've been a huge fan ever since and have seen them headline several times (go here and here).  I was absolutely thrilled when they announced a tour in support of their latest album, Love Is Like, and I had so much fun at the concert last night.  Midway through the show Adam Levine thanked the audience for supporting them for so long and mentioned that the concert with Matchbox Twenty was the first time they performed in SLC.  Almost all of the people sitting around me had been there!  They sang "California" from the new album but they mostly played the hits which made the crowd very happy!  They began the show with "Harder to Breathe," which made me very happy, and also played "She Will Be Loved," "Sunday Morning," and "This Love" from Songs About Jane.  Other highlights included "Lucky Strike," "Animals," "One More Night," "Misery," "Won't Go Home Without You," "Maps," "Love Somebody," "Don't Wanna Know," and "Girls Like You."  These songs brought back so many memories and I remembered the words to every one even though I hadn't heard them for a long time!  They performed a very heartfelt rendition of "Memories," which they dedicated to their agent Jordan Feldstein who died in 2017, and included photos submitted by the audience of people they wished to remember on their giant screen.  They concluded their main set with a rousing rendition of "Moves Like Jagger" and then performed "Payphone" and "Sugar" for the encore.  Levine, who spent most of the night strutting down the long runway into the crowd, sounded great (he can still hit those high notes) and he was incredibly energetic and engaging!  It is always great to see a band who evokes a specific time in your life (I felt like that girl singing "Harder to Breathe" in her car at the top of her lungs once again) and I loved every minute!

Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 1

Last night I went to my first Utah Symphony concert of the 2025-2026 season because the program featured one of my favorite composers (Rachmaninoff) and one of my favorite guest conductors (David Robertson).  I had a wonderful time and I even saw the cute little ladies I used to sit by when I subscribed to the Masterworks series (they told me they missed me).  The orchestra began with Memoriale by Pierre Boulez with a small chamber group consisting of three violins, two violas, a cello, two horns, and a solo flute.  This piece originally began as a tribute to Igor Stravinsky but evolved into one for Lawrence Beauregard, the principal flutist of a chamber group founded by Boulez who died at age 28.  I really liked all of the "special effects" performed by Utah Symphony principal flutist Mercedes Smith and the way the rest of the instruments interacted with the flute.  Next came Anemology (Saxophone Concerto) by Steven Mackey, which was written for last night's soloist Timothy McAllister.  Mackey was there to introduce the piece and he explained that the saxophone is the wind (anemology is the study of air movement) and the rest of the orchestra is the landscape that is animated by its movement.  It is rare to have a saxophone in a classical piece and I really enjoyed the integration of a rock and blues sound.  I especially loved the second movement, which mimicked the sound of wind through trees, because it featured lots of fun percussion instruments such as wind chimes and rain sticks.  McAllister was fun to watch because he was incredibly animated.  After the intermission, the orchestra performed Symphony No. 1 by Sergei Rachmaninoff.  I love Rachmaninoff because I think his music is so dramatic and I was really excited to hear this particular piece because I had never heard it live before (this was its first ever performance by the Utah Symphony).  The theme played by the brass at the end of the first movement is absolutely thrilling, the melody played by the clarinets in the third movement is beautiful, and the theme played by the strings is powerfully emphasized by the brass and percussion (I loved the gong) in the fourth movement.  It was an amazing performance!  Robertson is so personable and engaging on the podium and he made me laugh when he told the crowd that the orchestra was still going to perform the last movement when they applauded after the third one.  This was a great concert and I recommend getting a ticket for tonight's performance of the same program (go here).