Downhill

The movie Downhill was screened at Sundance this year but I didn't have a chance to see it.  I was very intrigued by the premise so I decided to check it out yesterday now that it is in wide release.  Pete (Will Ferrell) and Billie (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) Staunton are on a ski holiday in the Austrian Alps with their two sons.  After they are caught in a controlled avalanche, the two of them have different reactions which puts them at odds with each other.  This incident hangs over them for the rest of their trip and the tension builds and builds until the two of them must decide what they want from their marriage.  I am always up for a good dark comedy but I didn't like this movie as much as I thought I would.  Despite a relatively short 85 minute runtime, I found this movie to be incredibly boring at times.  There are many long and sustained shots of the family riding the ski lift and skiing down the mountain and the skiing sequences are not even that exciting.  The avalanche sequence is even pretty anticlimactic.  As much as I like Louis-Dreyfus, I really disliked the character of Billie.  I found her to be incredibly bossy and overbearing before the incident happened and, in my opinion, her reaction to what happened was just an excuse to treat Pete badly.  I honestly didn't understand why he was working so hard to gain her forgiveness because he seemed pretty checked out of their marriage before the incident happened.  Also, the resolution seemed very abrupt and not at all earned.  This movie either needed to be more dramatic with a real emotional connection between the characters or it needed to be funnier (the talents of both Ferrell and Louis-Dreyfus are squandered here).  I recommend giving this one a miss.

Note:  Downhill is based on the Swedish film Force Majeure and many believe that it is an inferior remake.  I haven't seen Force Majeure (I missed it when it screened at the Broadway) but now I really want to!

The Gentlemen

Last night I finally had the chance to see The Gentlemen and I had an absolute blast watching this movie!  American ex-patriot Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey) has amassed a multi-million dollar business growing marijuana on the estates of cash poor aristocrats in England but now wants to retire with his wife Rosalind (Michelle Dockery).  He decides to sell the business to Matthew Berger (Jeremy Strong), a fellow American, for $400 million.  However, Dry Eye (Henry Golding), the underboss for a Chinese gangster, offers to buy it instead and doesn't take kindly to being refused, a group of amateur MMA fighters trained by the Coach (Colin Farrell) raid one of his farms and film the escapade, some of his henchmen accidentally kill the son of Russian gangsters while doing a favor for one of the aristocrats, and a newspaper editor (Eddie Marson) who has been snubbed by Mickey hires a private investigator named Fletcher (Hugh Grant) to get the dirt on him and he, in turn, attempts to blackmail his right hand man Raymond (Charlie Hunnam).  Chaos ensues as Mickey tries to take back control of his empire.  This movie is wildly entertaining because Guy Ritchie is back to doing what Guy Ritchie does best.  He has created a group of eccentric characters, assembled an all-star ensemble cast who look like they are having the time of their lives, especially Grant (this is a side of him that I have never seen before and he is hilarious), and devised a plot with enough twists and turns to keep audiences guessing until the final scene.  Ritchie is known for his fast cuts and stylized action sequences and there are some great ones here!  I especially loved the raid on one of Mickey's farms and the scene where a group of henchmen must track down all of the phones used to film the incident with the Russian boy.  I laughed out loud through the whole movie and, if you like Ritchie's previous gangster movies, I highly recommend this!

Ballet West's Giselle

Last night I went to see the ballet Giselle at Capitol Theatre.  It is one of my favorites and Ballet West's production was absolutely beautiful!  Giselle is a young peasant girl who meets a handsome man named Loys (who is really Albrecht, the Duke of Silesia, in disguise).  She falls in love with him much to the dismay of Hilarion, a peasant boy who loves her.  Loys leaves when he hears the horns of a hunting party coming near and Hilarion discovers his identity when he finds his sword.  The hunting party is comprised of the Duke of Courland and his daughter Bathilde, who becomes fond of Giselle.  The two of them speak of love and confess that they are both engaged (it turns out that they are engaged to the same man).  Later, Loys returns and Hilarion confronts him with his sword.  Giselle, upon learning the truth, goes mad and takes her own life.  When Albrecht visits Giselle's grave, he is confronted by the Willis, the spirits of young maidens who were betrayed before their wedding day and seek revenge against those who deceived them.  The Willis force Albrecht to dance until he dies but Giselle forgives him which frees him from the spell.  The main roles, Beckanne Sisk as Giselle, Chase O'Connell as Albrecht, and Allison DeBona as Myrthe the Queen of the Willis, are danced beautifully.  I especially loved the scene where Loys woos Giselle because the business with the flower to determine if he really loves her is very sweet.  The Pas de Deux between Albrecht and Giselle's ghost is incredibly tender and beautiful and I really loved the music, especially the harp.  The dance between Myrthe and the rest of the Willis is otherworldly and ethereal and DeBona is very powerful in the role.  I loved their costumes of white, with just a touch of green, because they are so striking against the backdrop of the almost sinister woods.  I love this ballet because the story of forgiveness is so poignant and I enjoyed this production so much!  Unfortunately, last night was the final performance but go here for the rest of Ballet West's season.

Women Rock

Abravanel Hall was rocking last night as the Utah Symphony was joined by vocalists Cassidy Catanzaro, Katrina Rose, and Shayna Steele to pay tribute to the powerful female singers and songwriters who influenced rock and roll.  I have been looking forward to this concert for a long time and it was even better than I hoped it would be!  Katrina Rose come on stage first to perform the Janis Joplin classic "Piece of My Heart" and she set the tone for the rest of the concert with an exuberant performance that got the crowd going!  Next on stage was Shayna Steele who performed "Dancing in the Streets" by Martha & The Vandellas with a lot of soul.  Then Cassidy Catanzaro performed a lovely rendition of Carole King's "So Far Away" and she sounded so much like her.  Rose continued with "What a Feeling" from the movie Flashdance, followed by Catanzaro singing "Both Sides Now" by Joni Mitchell, and then Steele singing her version of Aretha Franklin's "Freeway of Love."  One of my favorite songs by James Taylor is "Up on the Roof," which was written by Carole King, and Catanzaro's version rivaled his!  A highlight of this concert came next.  When I got to Abravanel Hall and looked at the program I just about lost my mind because I saw that they would be performing "Love is a Battlefield" by Pat Benatar!  I absolutely loved that song back in the day and I would watch MTV for hours just hoping to see the music video.  Rose performed it as a ballad and just about blew the roof off Abravanel Hall.  It gave me goosebumps!  All three vocalists took the stage to end the first act with a powerful version of King's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman."  After the intermission, the orchestra played "Pick Up the Pieces" by Average White Band and the horn section was fantastic!  All three vocalists performed Joan Jett's classic "I Love Rock 'n Roll" which was a big hit with the audience.  Next came another highlight for me when Rose sang "These Dreams," which is one of my favorite Heart songs.  Steele sang a fantastic version of Tina Turner's "The Best" and then Catanzaro sang two more classics by Carole King:  "I Feel the Earth Move" and "You've Got a Friend."  Rose continued with "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" by Pat Benatar which featured another incredibly exuberant performance (I loved her).  Steele performed a sultry version of Tina Turner's "What's Love Got to Do With It" and then she was joined by Rose and Catanzaro for "Proud Mary" which was an epic way to end an amazing concert!  I loved every minute of it and I highly recommend getting a ticket to see this program tonight (go here).

Sarah McLachlan at the Eccles

Last night I went to my first concert of 2020 and it was such a good one!  I have been a fan of Sarah McLachlan ever since I heard the song "Possession" and bought the album Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (which I played almost continuously in the early 1990s).  I was so excited when I heard that she was coming to the Eccles Theatre because it is an amazing venue for concerts.  I bought a ticket as soon as they went on sale and I've been looking forward to it ever since (it is what got me through two nights of parent teacher conferences).  The concert was billed as an intimate evening of songs and storytelling and that is exactly what it was.  It was just her on piano and guitar with Vanessa Freebairn-Smith accompanying her on cello and backing vocals.  This resulted in some lovely arrangements of her best songs.  She included a few songs from the albums Shine On and Laws of Illusion, which I am not as familiar with, such as "In Your Shoes," "Monster," "Song For My Father," "Beautiful Girl," "Loving You Is Easy," and "The Sound That Love Makes."  However, she spent most of the evening singing all of my favorite songs, including "Possession," "I Will Remember You," "Adia," "Good Enough," "Building a Mystery," "Drifting," "World on Fire," "Fallen," "Sweet Surrender," "Hold On," and "Ice Cream," and hearing them took me back to some really great times and some really dark times in my life.  It was pretty emotional, especially her rendition of "Hold On" with a new arrangement on piano.  She also sang a cover of Peter Gabriels's "Mercy Street" after talking about how much he inspired her as a young girl.  In between each song she would tell various anecdotes about them.  My favorite story was when people tell her that they played "Possession" at their wedding she always wants to laugh because it is about a stalker.  For the encore she sang a new song from a forthcoming album called "Wilderness" and I really liked it (she seems to have had a lot of relationships with narcissists that have ended badly).  Then she played a beautiful version of "Angel" to end the evening.  I really enjoyed this concert so much!  McLachlan is incredibly talented and she was so engaging with the crowd last night.  It was the perfect way to end a long and difficult week!

Note:  As many of you know, there is always one song (usually an obscure song from the artist's back catalogue) that I hope will be played whenever I go to a concert.  Last night I hoped that McLachlan would play "Push" but I wasn't too disappointed because I have heard her play it live before (and I kind of understand why she didn't play it because it is a beautiful love song about her now ex-husband).

Love Story

Yesterday I had the chance to see the movie Love Story for the first time on the big screen and I thoroughly enjoyed it!  Oliver Barrett IV (Ryan O'Neal), the son of a wealthy and prominent family, is a pre-law student at Harvard and Jenny Cavalleri (Ali MacGraw), a working class girl from Rhode Island, is a classical music student at Radcliffe when they meet and fall in love despite their differences.  When he finds out that she has a scholarship to study in Paris, he asks her to give it up and marry him.  She agrees but his father (Ray Milland) threatens to cut him off financially if he goes through with the marriage.  Despite his family's objections they get married and she struggles to put him through law school.  After Oliver graduates and gets a job with a top law firm in New York, he promises to give Jenny the life she deserves but, when fate intervenes, she tells him that she doesn't regret anything.  I was really excited to finally get a chance to see this movie because it is such a classic but I was surprised to see so many negative comments on social media about how cheesy and overly sentimental it is.  I have to admit that the line, "Love means never having to say you're sorry," is pretty lame but Oliver and Jenny are very appealing characters and I was definitely invested in their relationship.  I enjoyed the fact that Oliver is a hockey player but I especially liked Jenny as a character because she gives as good as she gets and isn't intimidated by Oliver's wealth.  I also liked the fact that she wants Oliver to reconcile with his father, not for the money, but because it is an important relationship that needs to be mended.  O'Neal and MacGraw have so much chemistry with each other and they give very affecting performances. The clothes in this movie are so timeless and I particularly liked all of Jenny's plaid skirts and tights.  Finally, I absolutely loved the main orchestral theme!  When I was a little girl I had a jewelry box that played this theme but I never knew what it was from!  Whether you saw this when it was first released 50 years ago or are experiencing it for the first time, I highly recommend seeing it on the big screen.  You have one more chance on Wednesday (go here for more information).

The Rhythm Section

It has been quite a while since my Dad and I went to a late movie so we decided to go last night.  Since we are both big fans of espionage we picked The Rhythm Section and we both enjoyed it.  Stephanie Patrick (Blake Lively) is a promising student at Oxford when her parents and siblings are killed in a plane crash.  She feels tremendous guilt because she was supposed to be on the plane with them and her life has spiraled out of control.  When she learns that the crash wasn't an accident, she tracks down Iain Boyd (Jude Law), an ex MI-6 agent, to help her find and eliminate the terrorists responsible.  He reluctantly agrees to train her and has her assume the persona of an assassin that he killed.  He sends her to Marc Serra (Sterling K. Brown), an ex CIA agent, to complete several missions which don't go according to plan because she lacks the killing instinct.  She ultimately finds Mohammad Reza (Tawfeek Barhom), the man she believes is responsible, but discovers that there is a much bigger conspiracy.  This movie is very different from what I thought it would be based on the trailers.  It has a very slow start because, when we first meet Stephanie, she is addicted to drugs and has been working as a prostitute.  It takes her a while to make the decision to seek revenge and then, once she does, she spends quite a bit of time training with Boyd (although this involves some very amusing scenes because she is so inept).  When it actually gets going there are some amazing action sequences, including an awesome car chase through the streets of Tangiers and some epic hand-to-hand combat on a bus in Marseilles (I really like the fact that it comes down to hand-to-hand combat in the end because that was Stephanie's biggest weakness in her training with Boyd).  Lively gives a very strong central performance as a woman with nothing left to lose and I liked the stylized cinematography because much of it is from Stephanie’s perspective.  Despite the problems with the pacing, both my Dad and I found it to be very entertaining and I would recommend it to fans of action thrillers.

Peter and the Starcatcher at CPT

Last night I got to see Peter and the Starcatcher, one of my favorite shows, at Centerpoint Legacy Theatre and it was so much fun!  This play tells the story of how a lonely and mistreated orphan boy becomes Peter Pan.  We learn how he gets his magical powers, how he arrives in Neverland, and how the inept pirate Black Stache becomes his arch-nemesis Captain Hook. What I absolutely love about this show is that it takes place on a minimal set and uses everyday objects as props so it requires you to use your imagination just like the lost boys. You must be willing to believe ("Clap if you believe") that stars fall from the sky and give people magical powers, such as turning the male ensemble into dancing mermaids. There were people around me who didn't quite understand what was going on but I think the script is so clever and I was laughing out loud from beginning to end! The entire cast is fantastic with many of the actors playing multiple roles. I particularly enjoyed Jason Shumate as Peter Pan because his characterization was a lot angrier than I have seen before and I think it really worked. I always love the character of Molly Astor because she is such a strong and independent girl but I think Emma Kate Leishman imbued her with a bit of vulnerability and she had great chemistry with Shumate. I also really enjoyed Logan Stacey as the alteration-loving Mrs. Bumbrake because he was completely over-the-top! However, as always, my very favorite character is Black Stache (a misunderstood poet at heart who only wants to find a hero to defeat so that he can become a memorable villain) and Brandon Green stole the show with his incredibly flamboyant antics! He brought a lot of physicality to the role and I especially loved it every time he would roll himself on to a different level of the stage. His facial expressions were absolutely hilarious (I was sitting on the font row) and his ad-libbed remarks had me laughing so hard (sometimes I was the only one laughing). The minimal set consisted of several pieces which could be moved around to become various locations on two different ships as well as various locations on an island, the costumes were very clever (especially the aforementioned mermaid costumes), and the props were a lot of fun (particularly the life-preservers and lanterns used to represent the crocodile). It amazes me to think that CPT is a community theatre with a minimal budget because this is one of the best productions of Peter and the Starcatcher that I have ever seen. I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here) to this clever and imaginative show.

Dear Edward

Last night I went to a meeting of my book club to discuss this month's selection, Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano. Because I was really sick in the middle of January and then busy with the Sundance Film Festival I didn't actually start reading this until a few days ago but, once I started, I couldn't put it down and I became completely absorbed in Edward's story. Twelve year old Edward Adler boards a plane from Newark to Los Angeles with his parents, his older brother Jordan, and 183 other passengers. When the plane crashes in Colorado, Edward is the only survivor and is taken in by his mother's sister Lacey and her husband John who have had their own heartbreak. He must deal with the devastating loss of his family, the fact that he has become a figure of national interest, and the well-meaning attempts of his aunt and uncle to shield him from anything that might upset him.  Ultimately, he must come to terms with what happened to him and find a way to live again. The narrative alternates between Edward's perspective after the crash and the perspectives of several passengers during the flight leading up to the crash. This device is incredibly effective because part of what keeps Edward from moving on is his refusal to think about the moments leading up to the crash. The crash actually happens just when Edward is forced to remember it when he gets a letter from one of the first responders. It was also really effective to have all of the passengers spend most of their time during the flight thinking about what they are going to do once they land in Los Angeles not knowing that their lives are about to end and that they won't have the time to do all of those things. Living in the moment is an important theme of the novel and something that Edward must embrace to move forward. As always, we had some great discussions! We talked about the fact that Edward's aunt and uncle try to shield him from anything relating to the crash and they keep the letters that the family members of the victims send him hidden away. It is just human nature to want to protect someone you love from pain but it is the letters that give him a connection to the other passengers and his decision to help the families anonymously gives him the motivation to live again. We also had a great discussion about Edward's relationship with his next door neighbor Shay because, throughout the novel, is appears that she is saving him from despair but at the end of the novel she tells him that he has saved her.  Our facilitator mentioned that our discussion was really depressing but all of us felt that the book was incredibly uplifting and hopeful.  I found it to be a beautiful and moving story about resilience and I highly recommend it.

Note:  Next month's selection is American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. Apparently there is a bit of controversy surrounding this book so it will definitely be interesting to read.  Go here for more information about the Barnes & Noble book club and to sign up at a location near you.  As always, if you are local, join us at the Layton Barnes & Noble on March 10.  We have a small group but we are lots of fun.

Sundance Film Festival 2020

The 2020 Sundance Film Festival has concluded and, even though I am incredibly sleep deprived, I had such a great time!  I was able to see 16 films in 10 days at five different venues and I really enjoyed all of them.  My first film was The Perfect Candidate which was filmed in Saudi Arabia.  Despite many restrictions on her freedom, a young woman (Mila Alzahrani) practices as a doctor in a small clinic but access is difficult because the dirt road leading to it frequently floods.  She tries to get the road paved but no one pays attention to her.  When she accidentally signs up to run in a municipal election, she decides to pursue it, against all odds, in order to get the road paved but, instead, she earns the respect of everyone in her life.  I thought this film was a very charming story of female empowerment and I really enjoyed the amusing scenes where her sisters help her with her campaign.  My second film was Worth which is a true story about the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.  Kenneth Feinberg (Michael Keaton) is a powerful New York lawyer tasked with assigning a value on the lives lost in the 9/11 terror attacks for compensation purposes to keep families from suing and potentially crippling the U.S. economy.  At first he uses an actuarial formula and then he realizes that he needs a more personal approach when he begins meeting with the families.  Keaton gives a very affecting performance, especially when he is sparring with Charles Wolf (Stanley Tucci) who lost his wife in the attacks.  My third film was Promising Young Woman which I really liked.  Cassie Thomas (Carey Mulligan) is a med school drop-out who now lives with her parents and has a dead-end job in a coffee shop.  When a former classmate (Bo Burnham) comes back into her life, he stirs up memories of the incident that derailed her and awakens a need for revenge.  The ending is not at all what I was expecting but it had the crowd at my screening cheering out loud.  It is a quirky and subversive take on the traditional revenge story and, even though it has some bizarre tonal shifts, it is fantastic.  My fourth film was Dream Horse with my students (go here for my review and here for a review written by one of my students).  My fifth film was Surge which was difficult to watch but, upon reflection (and a Q&A with the director Aniel Karia), I have decided that it is brilliant.  Joseph (Ben Whishaw) is an airport security officer who lives alone in London.  Living in an urban environment has anesthetized and isolated him and, after an incident with his parents and an incident at work, he experiences a psychotic breakdown in which he wanders the city without inhibition.  The tension builds and builds with hand-held camera work, pulse-pounding sound design, and a frenetic performance from Whishaw (it reminded me of something the Safdie Brothers would do).  My sixth film was the documentary Time which tells the heartbreaking story of a woman named Sibil Fox Richardson who fights for over twenty years to get her husband released from a life sentence in prison (it is implied that the excessive sentence was imposed because he is black and poor).  Home videos of family life recorded for her husband over twenty years are interspersed with her tireless crusade to free him.  The interviews with their six sons are incredibly poignant, especially since they all grew up to be stellar young men despite their hardships.  At first I felt like Sibil was playing to the cameras but a moment of vulnerability after a court clerk informs her that a judge hasn't had time to write the decision brought me to tears.  My seventh film was the documentary Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind.  This is a loving tribute by Natasha Gregson to her mother with newly discovered home videos and interviews with close friends and family members.  Both her personal and professional lives are explored and the overwhelming message for me was that her death left an incredible void in the lives of those who knew her best.  My eighth film was the documentary Coded Bias and I was able to take my nephew Sean to see it with me.  Joy Buolamwini, a woman of color, was working on a project at MIT and discovered that the facial recognition software she was using had difficulty recognizing the faces of females and people of color.  Upon further investigation, she discovered that many algorithms used as "gatekeepers" for getting approval for a loan, applying for college, or getting an interview for a job are similarly biased and, even worse, erroneously track people perceived to be a threat.  This documentary is incredibly thought-provoking and a little unsettling.  My ninth film was another documentary called Spaceship Earth.  This tells the story of the Biosphere 2 experiment where eight scientists attempted to live in a self-sustaining environment for two years with the hope of possibly using these structures in space.  I found it fascinating how a group of idealistic people came together to try to improve the world and how they were undermined by their own publicity.  My tenth film, Nine Days, was definitely my favorite of the festival.  It is a beautiful and thought-provoking exploration of what it means to be human.  On another plane of existence (an isolated house in a desert), a man who was once alive (Winston Duke) interviews a group of souls given temporary existence over a period of nine days in order to choose one of them for the privilege of being born.  He tests them to see if they can handle the pain and sorrow of life but he is ultimately reminded by one of the candidates (Zazie Beetz) that there is also happiness and beauty to be found in life.  I loved this film so much and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I saw it!  My eleventh film was The Glorias which I also really enjoyed.  It is a biography of the feminist Gloria Steinem but what sets it apart is that there are four actresses who portray her at various times in her life (Ryan Kiera Armstrong as a child, Lulu Wilson as a teenager, Alicia Vikander as a young adult, and Julianne Moore as an older adult) who frequently interact with each other while traveling on a Greyhound bus through her memories.  The inside of the bus is filmed in black and white while the world outside is in color (an homage to The Wizard of Oz).  I think this motif works very well and I was captivated by the performances of Vikander and Moore.  My twelfth film was Sylvie's Love, a lovely old-fashioned movie about a romance between a woman engaged to someone else (Tessa Thompson) and a Jazz musician (Nnamdi Asomugha) in the 1950s.  They go their separate ways but, when they are unexpectedly reunited later in life, they realize they still love each other.  Thompson and Asomugha have great chemistry and the soundtrack is fabulous!  My thirteenth film, Tesla, was my most anticipated film in the festival because I find Nikola Tesla to be endlessly fascinating and I was excited to see Ethan Hawke portray the enigmatic genius.  It begins by telling the same story as The Current War, but from Tesla's point of view, and then it portrays his obsession with developing wireless technology and even inserts smartphones and google searches to emphasize that he had envisioned the future we live in now.  It gets pretty weird (Tesla sings a karaoke version of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears) with dramatic low lighting, theatrical backdrops, and a narrator (Eve Hewson) who breaks the fourth wall but I found it intriguing and I suspect it will become a cult classic.  My fourteenth film was The Go-Go's, a very straightforward biopic about the first all-female band to play their own instruments and have a number one record (this is mentioned multiple times), including their meteoric rise, pressure to duplicate the success of their first record, drug addiction, and squabbling over publishing rights.  As a child of the 1980s, I loved the Go-Go's and it was very nostalgic hearing this music (I tried not to sing) once again.  They've still got the beat!  My fifteenth film was Ironbark, a true story about a Soviet spy starring Benedict Cumberbatch.  Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze) is a high-ranking science officer in the Soviet Union who is horrified by the build-up of nuclear weapons and wants to give classified information to the West.  Because Penkovsky is so prominent, the CIA and MI-6 don't want to compromise him by using known agents so they recruit businessman Greville Wynne (Cumberbatch) who knows very little about spy craft.  It is very atmospheric with lots of Cold War intrigue and Cumberbatch gives a riveting performance.  I am a fan of spy thrillers so I loved it!  My sixteenth and final film was the Taylor Swift documentary Miss Americana.  I am a huge fan of Taylor Swift and, even though this was already streaming on Netflix by the time of my screening, it was so much fun to watch this with a large and rowdy crowd!  This documentary chronicles a transformative period in Swift's career in which she sheds her "good girl" persona, makes her voice heard about social and political issues, and writes the music for her album Lover.  I really loved the image of a 13-year-old girl squaring her shoulders to walk out on to a stage for the first time at the beginning juxtaposed with her confident return to the stage after the album release at the end.  Whew!  It was a crazy ten days but I loved seeing movies that might not necessarily get made without this festival and I loved talking about these movies with people from all over the world (I talked to a family from London while in line for Ironbark!).

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Sundance Student Screening 2020

Yesterday I got to take a group of my students to see Dream Horse as part of the Student Screening Program with the Sundance Film Festival.  Even though arranging field trips is equal parts planning the D-Day invasion and herding cats, this particular field trip always ends up being an amazing experience and yesterday was no exception!  I absolutely loved the film we saw and, more importantly, so did my students!  It is a true story (which is also told in the documentary Dark Horse which premiered at Sundance in 2016) about Jan Vokes (Toni Collette) who lived in an economically depressed village in Wales with her unemployed husband Brian (Owen Teale).  She worked two dead-end jobs, as a checker in a big-box retail store during the day and as a barmaid in the evening, and cared for her elderly parents.  She longed for something to inspire her to get out of bed every day.  One night a man in the bar named Howard Davies (Damian Lewis) brags to the crowd that he was once part of a syndicate that owned a racehorse.  Jan decides that she wants to own a racehorse and recruits Howard to help her.  She uses all of her savings to buy a mare that came in last in every race she ran and then creates her own syndicate of friends from the bar (including the town drunk and a lonely widow) to help her pay the stud fee of a champion.  They name their foal Dream Alliance and keep him on their small allotment of land.  They eventually convince a well-known trainer (Nicholas Farrell) to work with Dream Alliance and, when he begins winning races against all odds, he becomes a symbol of hope for the whole village.  I loved the scenes where the eccentric syndicate members watch the races in the owners' boxes with the aristocracy and I really enjoyed the racing sequences because they are so exhilarating (the students cheered out loud multiple times).  This is such a feel good movie about doing whatever it takes to achieve your dreams and it was perfect for my students!  There was a Q&A after the film with Euros Lyn, the director, and he told the students that despite what people tell them they should always follow their dreams no matter how out of reach they might appear to be!  I loved that!  One student asked him how the people of Wales have responded to the film and he answered that Sundance audiences are the very first to see it but he hopes that all of the audiences respond the way that we did!  This will be my final student screening and I'm glad that I picked a good one to end on!

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2016

Fiddler on the Roof at the Eccles

I have always been a really big fan of the musical Fiddler on the Roof.  I have seen it dozens of times and I even got to play Fruma-Sarah in a production so I was thrilled when the show had a revival on Broadway because I knew that the touring production would eventually come to SLC.  I had the chance to see it last night and it was just delightful!  Tevye (Yehezkel Lazarov) is a poor Jewish dairyman living in the small Russian village of Anatevka.  He clings to his traditional way of life as a protection from the harsh realities of life but his three oldest daughters push against tradition when it comes time to find a match.  As I sat in my seat at the Eccles Theatre I anticipated every single musical number with a huge smile on my face:  "Tradition," "Matchmaker, Matchmaker," "If I Were A Rich Man," "Sabbath Prayer," "To Life," "Sunrise, Sunset," "Do You Love Me," "Far From the Home I Love," "Chavaleh," and "Anatevka,"  It was really hard for me not to sing along because I know every word.  I really liked this production because the sets are very simple and stark and use a lot of weathered wood.  It seemed very appropriate considering the harsh conditions of Russia and it really helped to set the mood.  I also really liked the monochromatic costumes which also served the same purpose.  What made this production seem very fresh and new was the choreography.  I especially enjoyed the staging of "To Life" because the slow-motion dancing as the Jews begin to interact with the Russian villagers is very dramatic.  I also really enjoyed the bottle dance during the wedding (I even liked the fact that one of the dancers dropped his bottle because it made it seem so much more authentic) because it is incredibly athletic (the main dancer could kick his legs so high)!  The entire cast is outstanding but I especially enjoyed Lazarov's interpretation of Tevye because he is almost sarcastic in his delivery.  I laughed out loud when he tried to kiss Golde (Maite Uzal) during "Do You Love Me" and it was heartbreaking to see his anguish during "Chavaleh."  I also really enjoyed Nick Siccone as Motel the tailor, especially when he hides under the wagon when talking to Tevye.  This was such a fun evening for me!  I always love seeing the old classics from my youth because they are the shows that turned me into a fan of musical theatre.  I recommend this production (go here for tickets) because it is sure to put a smile on your face.

Utah Opera's Silent Night

Last night I had the opportunity to see Utah Opera's wonderful production of Silent Night which depicts an actual ceasefire that happened on Christmas Eve in 1914.  World War I is very meaningful to me because of my great-grandfather so I knew that I would enjoy this opera but I absolutely loved it because every aspect of this production is outstanding.  I was moved to tears multiple times.  In Berlin, an opera performance featuring Nikolaus Sprink (Andrew Stenson) and Anna Sorensen (Abigail Rethwisch) is interrupted by the news that Germany is at war.  In a small town in Scotland, William Dale (Stephen Pace) dreams of glory and urges his younger brother Jonathan (Jonathan Johnson) to enlist with him.  In Paris, Madeleine Audebert (Quinn Middleman) is angry that her husband (Efrain Solis) is leaving to go to war while she is pregnant with their first child.  The war commences with some dramatic sequences, including an ill-fated battle between the German, Scottish, and French troops where William is shot.  Jonathan is forced to leave him behind and is comforted by Father Palmer (Troy Cook).  Lieutenant Audebert writes his report of the battle and laments that he has lost his wife's photo (in an incredibly beautiful aria that moved me to tears and not for the last time).  Nikolaus sings of his despair to his memory of Anna.  As all of the soldiers go to sleep, snow begins softly falling (it is a beautiful image).   Anna has arranged for Nikolaus to perform with her for the Kronprinz on Christmas Eve but, after the performance, he insists that he must return to his men so she joins him on the battlefield.  He hears the Scottish regiment singing (with bagpipes) a song filled with longing for home so he begins singing a German Christmas carol.  Soon all of the soldiers are singing, prompting the leaders of the three regiments to meet in no-man's land to arrange a ceasefire for Christmas Eve.  Father Palmer leads them in a mass and then Anna sings an a capella song of peace by candlelight (another beautiful moment that moved me to tears).  My audience literally held their breath through this song and then there was an audible sigh when all of the candles were blown out.  In the morning the ceasefire is over and Jonathan is almost shot in no-man's land.  When it is discovered that he was burying William's body, the leaders once again agree to a ceasefire so that each regiment can bury their dead.  All of the soldiers salute the dead and then there is a plaintive sound of a bagpipe (this just about did me in).  The soldiers come to see the futility of war but each regiment is berated by their commanding officer and ordered to resume the hostilities.  The story is incredibly poignant, the music is simply gorgeous (particularly the music depicting a sunrise on the battlefield), and every singer gives a lovely performance (I was especially impressed with Rethwisch and Solis).  The costumes and all of the props are authentic to the period (I was impressed with the number of guns) and I really enjoyed the use of projections (especially during the battle sequences.)  The Scottish, French, and German bunkers are made of granite and are placed in three tiers on top of each other.  (Spoiler alert!)  These tiers are then transformed into a monument to the fallen at the end of the opera and when the last soldiers leave the stage they reveal poppies at the edge of it (moving me once more to tears).  This opera is beautiful, moving, and very powerful!  I highly recommend getting a ticket to one of the two performances remaining (go here).

The Irishman

Because I watched The Irishman last night, I have now seen all of the Academy Award nominees for Best Picture (click on the titles for my commentaries on Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood,  Parasite,  Little Women,  Jojo Rabbit,  Joker,  Ford v Ferrari,  1917,  and Marriage Story).  I really wish that I had been able to see The Irishman when it screened at the Broadway because I was very distracted watching it at home on Netflix.  It is three and half hours long and, while it is filled with brilliant performances, it is definitely a slow burn.  Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro), a veteran of the Anzio Campaign in World War II, is an elderly man living out his final days in a nursing home.  He begins recounting his experiences as a hitman for the Bufalino crime family to an unseen listener.  The action then moves back and forth between a long and meandering cross-country road trip, that is incredibly portentous, and the chronological accumulation of detail telling of how Sheeran comes to be on this road trip.  He is a driver for a meat company and begins stealing from the company's shipments to sell to a local gangster (Bobby Canavale).  When he is caught, he is successfully defended by union lawyer Bill Bufalino (Ray Romano) who introduces him to his cousin Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci), the head of a well-known Pennsylvania crime family.  He makes himself useful to Russell and other members of the crime family and eventually becomes their top hitman.  Russell then introduces him to his associate Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino), the head of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and he becomes his friend and bodyguard while Hoffa deals with a threat from a rising teamster (Stephen Graham) and a witch hunt by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (Jack Huston).  Eventually, Hoffa becomes a loose cannon and the Bufalino family sends Sheeran to deal with him.  He is a dispassionate killer but when he comes to the end of his life Sheeran is melancholy, alone, and alienated from his daughters.  He tries to find a measure of solace by confessing to a priest but he ultimately feels no remorse.  Because Sheeran is such a cold-blooded killer, most of the action sequences seem oddly flat (which is why I found it to be a bit boring) and visually uninspiring.  Also, given the circumstances surrounding Jimmy Hoffa's "disappearance" and the lack of corroboration in the real Sheeran's account I thought it was odd that Scorsese chose to portray a certain scene at face value.  A little ambiguity would have been more interesting, in my opinion.  Much has been made of the digital de-aging techniques used on the main cast and I did find it a bit distracting at first but, eventually, I didn't even notice it any more.  It goes without saying that both De Niro and Pacino are amazing; however, I was most impressed with the quiet restraint (which is terrifying) in Pesci's performance because he is normally so bombastic.  I also really enjoyed Anna Pacquin as Sheeran's estranged daughter because, even though she has almost no dialogue, she is essentially his missing conscience and her scenes are very powerful.  This movie is an almost heartbreaking meditation on confronting mortality but it takes a long time to get there so I recommend seeing it in a theater (it will probably be re-released in conjunction with the Oscars) where there will be fewer distractions.

Note:  Now that I have seen all of the nominees, my pick for Best Picture is 1917.  It is remarkable!  Go see it!

Marriage Story

The Academy Award nominations were announced yesterday and I have seen all of the nominees for Best Picture (click on the titles for my commentaries on Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood, Parasite, Little Women, Jojo Rabbit, Joker, Ford v Ferrari, and 1917) except two of them and, luckily, both of are currently streaming on Netflix.  Since I always like to see all of the nominees, I decided to watch Marriage Story last night and I thought it was a thoughtful exploration of a relationship that has disintegrated with incredible performances from Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson.  Charlie (Driver) is a brilliant theatre director in New York City and his wife Nicole (Johansson) is a former Hollywood star who relocated to New York to be with him and star in his productions.  At first she was the main draw for the fledgling theatre company but now he has become the toast of the town and she is feeling more and more insignificant.  When Nicole is offered a pilot for a TV show in Los Angeles she decides to take it and wants them to move there with their eight-year-old son Henry (Azhy Robertson).  Charlie wants the family to stay in New York and this exacerbates all of the underlying problems within the marriage.  They initially agree to handle the divorce themselves in an amicable manner but Nicole is advised by a producer on her show to hire Nora Fanshaw (Laura Dern) which causes Charlie to hire Jay Marotta (Ray Liotta) in retaliation and it quickly becomes acrimonious.  When things spiral out of control the two of them try to work it out themselves leading to an incredibly visceral confrontation.  What is extraordinary about this movie is that both characters are highly sympathetic.  Nicole just wants to have a voice again after years of being taken for granted and Charlie feels blindsided by Nicole's decision and doesn't want to lose his son.  They are both inherently decent people (as evidenced in the opening voice-over where they talk about what they love about each other) who end up doing terrible things in the name of winning and their journey to redemption is very compelling.  Johansson is as vulnerable as I have ever seen her, particularly when she talks about meeting Charlie for the first time, and Dern gives another fantastic performance, especially in a speech about the double standard for mothers.  However, I was blown away by Driver (I hope he wins Best Actor).  He is brilliant when he sings "Being Alive" in a piano bar after signing the divorce papers but he is also so heartbreaking in the quieter moments, such as when he sees that his pictures have been removed from his mother-in-law's house and when he reads Nicole's letter.  This is a movie that will make you laugh and cry and I highly recommend it.

Note:  My review of The Irishman (also streaming on Netflix) is coming tomorrow.

Escape to Margaritaville in Las Vegas

I received a season subscription to Broadway Las Vegas for Christmas (I think the Smith Center is a fantastic venue and I don't mind the drive from SLC to Las Vegas) and the first show was Escape to Margaritaville last night.  The story is basically the lyrics to Jimmy Buffet's classic song "Margaritaville" but it features a lot of other Jimmy Buffet songs and it was a lot of fun!  Tully (Chris Clark) is wasting away as the singer at the Margaritaville Hotel and Resort on a tropical island.  He enjoys island life because his relationships with women only last for as long as they are on vacation.  Tammy (Shelly Lynn Walsh) and Rachel (Sarah Hinrichsen) travel to the island for one last fling before Tammy gets married.  Rachel is driven and uptight but Tully is able to get her to relax and they spend the whole week together.  Meanwhile, Tammy begins a flirtation with the bartender Brick (Peter Michael Jordan).  In addition, J.D. (Patrick Cogan), a beach bum who is perpetually searching for his lost shaker of salt, tries to woo Marley (Rachel Lyn Fobbs), the owner of the hotel.  When it is time for the women to go home, Tully realizes that he is in love with Rachel and Tammy is having second thoughts about her upcoming wedding.  When a volcano threatens the island, Tully and Brick decide to find Rachel and Tammy but will the women feel the same when they are not on island time?  It is really clever how Buffet's songs are incorporated into the story, especially "License to Chill," "Fins," "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere," "Changes in Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes," "Margaritaville," "Come Monday," and "One Particular Harbor."  I did think that "Cheeseburger in Paradise" was a little cheesy (pun intended) but my very favorite number was "Why Don't We Get Drunk" because it involved some audience participation for one particular word!  The singing and dancing were great and I enjoyed watching the incredibly talented band on stage (I really love steel drums).  This wasn't the greatest musical I have ever seen but it was such a blast watching it with a boisterous crowd filled with Jimmy Buffet fans (many were dressed for the islands) and quick road trips to Las Vegas are always a lot of fun!

1917

I have had a lifelong fascination with World War I (my great-grandfather was wounded in the Battle of Ypres and left for dead on the battlefield until he was found alive by his brother) so I have been anticipating the movie 1917 for months.  I was finally able to see it last night with my Dad and the hype is real!  This movie is absolutely brilliant!  At the height of WWI in northern France, General Erinmore (Colin Firth) sends two young soldiers, Lance Corporal Will Schofield (George MacKay) and Lance Corporal Tom Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman), on a desperate mission across no-man's land to deliver a message to Colonel Mackenzie (Benedict Cumberbatch).  Thinking that the German forces are on the run, Mackenzie is about to attack but Erinmore has received aerial reconnaissance photos that show the Germans are waiting to ambush the regiment.  Communications have been cut so Schofield and Blake are the only hope to avoid the massacre of 1600 soldiers, including Blake's older brother.  Everything about this movie is outstanding!  The story about the futility of war is compelling and full of so much pathos that I was crying uncontrollably by the end of it (aspects of the story reminded me of my very favorite movie Gallipoli which is what started my tears).  MacKay gives an astonishing and physically grueling performance as a jaded soldier who initially doesn't want to go on the mission because he has seen action at the Somme but eventually finds a meaningful reason to continue.  His character's arc is incredibly profound and the final shot had me crying once again.  The action is intense and completely immersive (it is as if you are in the trenches with the soldiers) due to the elaborately choreographed camera shots which give the impression of one long and continuous take.  It is a technical achievement that left me stunned.  I have long been a fan of Roger Deakins (I loved the cinematography in Blade Runner 2049) and his use of light and shadow while Schofield runs through the bombed out city of Ecoust is mesmerizing.  I also loved the evocative score by Thomas Newman because it adds so much to the intensity and emotion.  I highly recommend this movie (both my Dad and I want to see it again) and, even though the nominations haven't been announced yet, it is my pick for the Best Picture Academy Award!

A Hidden Life

The final movie in my winter break marathon (and my final movie for 2019) was A Hidden Life which I saw on New Year's Eve.  It tells the true story of Franz Jagerstatter, an Austrian conscientious objector during World War II.  It is emotionally exhausting to watch but it is also beautiful and elegiac (and one of Terrence Malick's most linear narratives).  The movie begins by showing Franz (August Diehl), his wife Fani (Valerie Pachner), and their three daughters enjoying their simple life as hard-working farmers in a valley in the Austrian mountains.  Their idyllic life is shattered when they hear the rumblings of fighter planes overhead and Franz is called up for basic training.  He is horrified by what he sees (in the clever use of black and white archival footage of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis) but, after France is occupied and the war is presumed over, he is sent home.  But as the war rages on, he lives in fear that he will be called up again every time he sees a bicycle bringing a telegraph go by.  He is tormented by the fact that he will have to swear an oath to Hitler.  He knows that he cannot do something that is against his beliefs but he fears for what will happen to his wife and children if he is condemned as a traitor.  As a devout Catholic, he consults his priest and then the bishop, but they urge him to consider his family.  He ultimately refuses to take the oath, is put in prison in Berlin where he is routinely mistreated, and condemned by a military tribunal while Fani endures hostility from the people in her village.  A lawyer tells Franz that if he takes a non-combat role in the army the charges will be dropped but he will still have to take the oath.  Fani comes to visit him in prison and gives him the strength to do what he feels he must.  Jagerstatter is a man who refuses to take part in the evil he sees all around him so I found his story to be particularly salient for these troubled times and I was very invested in its outcome.  I also found it to be a profoundly spiritual exploration of free will.  However, the narrative moves very slowly (albeit with some beautiful shots of the Austrian mountains and valleys) so not everyone is going to enjoy it.  Both Diehl and Pachner give emotional performances and I also enjoyed Matthias Schoenaerts as a soldier who interrogates Franz and Bruno Ganz (in his final role) as a judge in the military tribunal who tries to understand his motives.  It was sometimes a difficult movie to watch but I would highly recommend it.

The Family Upstairs

Last night I went to a meeting of my book club to discuss the latest selection, The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell. We had a very lively discussion with a great moderator and I enjoyed it so much because I discovered many new insights that I had not thought about while I was reading it.  This riveting psychological thriller begins when Libby, who was adopted as a baby, turns 25 and discovers that she has inherited a large mansion in a highly desirable neighborhood in London. She also discovers that her birth parents and an unidentified stranger died in the house in an apparent suicide pact and that she has two siblings who have not been heard from since. She enlists the help of a reporter who once covered the case to help her find the truth and what she discovers is far more sinister than she could have imagined.  The narrative alternates between Libby's search for the truth, her brother Henry's recollections from the past about a charismatic man named David who moved into the house with his family and turned their lives into a nightmare, and her sister Lucy's struggle to survive in the present after the trauma of her childhood. All of the narrators are very compelling, especially Henry because he is so unreliable, and I read well into the night because I had to uncover the mystery of what happened in that house (which is almost a character in and of itself). It is incredibly suspenseful and there are quite a few twists and turns, some of which I wasn't expecting, My only complaint is that there are a lot of main characters to keep track of as well as quite a few secondary characters that are not as developed and do not add much to the story. This, along with alternating between the past and the present, sometimes makes it a bit confusing. As I mentioned, we had a great discussion about the themes of manipulation and how easy is it was for David to gain control of the vulnerable Lamb family, of trauma and how it continues to affect Lucy's decision-making even after leaving the traumatic situation, of identity and how learning about the past impacts Libby's perception of herself, and obsession with the past and how it consumes Henry's life. Almost everyone in the book club really liked this one (two women sitting near us who were listening in on our discussion came over and asked the name of the book because they thought it sounded so interesting) and I would definitely recommend it.

Note:  Next month's selection is Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano.  Go here for more information and to RSVP at a Barnes & Noble near you.  If you are local, consider joining us at the Layton Barnes & Noble on Feb. 4 because we have a fun and lively group!

Uncut Gems

Unbelievably, the next movie in my winter break marathon was Uncut Gems.  I usually try to avoid movies starring Adam Sandler because I think his humor is really crude but I am a huge fan of the Safdie Brothers and the trailer really intrigued me.  Howard Ratner (Sandler) is a jeweler in New York's Diamond District and he is also a gambling addict who is in over his head with a dangerous loan shark (Eric Bogosian) who wants his money.  After watching a documentary about opals in Ethiopia, he purchases a large rock containing rare black opals which he values at over $1,000,000.  He plans on selling it at auction in order to pay his gambling debts but Kevin Garnett (playing himself), who is a customer in his store, sees it and feels a deep connection to it.  He asks to keep it to bring him luck during his NBA playoff game later that night against the Sixers.  Ratner reluctantly agrees but keeps Garnett's NBA Championship ring as collateral which he immediately pawns in order to place a bet on the Celtics.  The Celtics win but he finds out that his loan shark canceled the bet and took the money from his bookie as partial payment.  Garnett, thinking that the opals brought him luck, doesn't want to give the rock back which causes trouble for Ratner who has scheduled it for auction.  Ratner becomes more and more desperate to get the rock back and pay off the loan shark which culminates in another wild bet on the Celtics to win Game 7.   Ratner is an outrageous character who is estranged from his wife Dinah (Idina Menzel), having an affair with Julia (Julia Fox), an employee, and hustling everyone in his life, including his father-in-law (Judd Hirsch), to get himself out of trouble.  Sandler gives the best performance of his career.  He obviously excels at portraying Ratner's frenetic energy but he is also surprisingly vulnerable, especially in a scene with his teenage daughter (Noa Fisher) and a scene where he realizes that everything is falling apart.  I was also quite impressed with Garnett because he is essentially a foil to Ratner.  Much like in Good Time, another movie by the Safdie Brothers, this features hand held camera work that follows Ratner's every move as if you were right there with him so you feel his ever increasing desperation.  I was on the edge of my seat the whole time because, even though Ratner is definitely an anti-hero, I found his journey very compelling and wanted him to succeed.  This movie is a profound exploration of what greed can do to a man's soul but it is filled with sex, violence, and profanity so not everyone is going to enjoy it.  I think it is brilliant!

Bombshell

Next in my winter break movie marathon was Bombshell which tells the true story of how the women of Fox News took down the head of the network.  When Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman) complains that her fellow male anchors on Fox & Friends are sexually harassing her, she is demoted to a program at a less desirable time and then eventually fired.  She decides to sue the network but her lawyers tell her that she has a better case against Roger Ailes (John Lithgow) who has sexually harassed her as well.  Her lawyers also tell her that she will have a better case if other women come forward and many former employees do.  However, a current employee will have more of an impact but the network puts pressure on the woman to support Ailes.  Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron), the most powerful female anchor at Fox, and Kayla Pospisil (Margot Robbie), a young associate producer trying to advance, eventually come forward.  The story is both compelling and very timely, particularly a scene which shows what all the women have to go through before going on air (there are rows and rows of brightly colored form-fitting sheath dresses and high-heeled shoes) and a disturbing scene where Ailes, while watching a live broadcast, screams to the cameraman to pull back so he can see the anchor's legs because that is what he is paying her for.  Theron gives an incredible performance, almost disappearing into the role, especially in a scene where she finally breaks down about the fact that the environment is so toxic at Fox.  I was most impressed with Robbie because her role is incredibly demanding and she definitely delivers!  There is a particularly charged scene with Lithgow where she is asked by Ailes to lift her skirt higher and higher and you can see her discomfort mingled with a desire to please on her face.  It is so uncomfortable to watch but incredibly powerful.  I found all of the actors playing Fox personalities, such as Kevin Dorff as Bill O'Reilly, Spencer Garrett as Sean Hannity, Bree Condon as Kimberly Guilfoyle, Marc Evan Jackson as Chris Wallace, Tony Plana as Geraldo Rivera, and Alanna Ubach as Jeanine Pirro, to be very amusing.  I was, however, a bit disappointed that Kidman did not have much of a role.  I also found the story to be a bit safe for a movie called Bombshell.  It was interesting and I recommend it for the performances.

Little Women

The next movie in my winter break marathon was Little Women which I saw with both of my sisters late at night on Christmas.  I could not have loved this movie more!  In fact, I loved everything about it!  This movie is an updated version of the beloved novel by Louisa May Alcott recounting how the March sisters, including Jo (Saoirse Ronan), Meg (Emma Watson), Amy (Florence Pugh), and Beth (Eliza Scanlen), come of age in Concord, Massachusetts during the Civil War.  The movie begins with Jo pursuing her dream of being a writer in New York.  She is forced to compromise in order to sell her stories and her friend and fellow resident at her boardinghouse, Friedrich Bhaer (Louis Garrell), criticizes her for it which angers her.  There are then flashbacks to the trials and triumphs of her adolescence with her sisters and mother "Marmee" (Laura Dern), her neighbor Theodore "Laurie" Laurence (Timothee Chalamet), his grandfather Mr. Laurence (Chris Cooper), and her Aunt March (Meryl Streep).  In between these flashbacks we see Jo encounter sorrow in the death of a sister, disappointment in love with Laurie, redemption as she writes a story to be proud of, and, ultimately, love with Friedrich.  I really love the structure of the narrative because every time there is a flashback it is a memory that informs the present situation.  We learn why Beth is ill, why Meg wants beautiful things, why Amy wants to marry well, and why Jo is so determined to succeed.  The cast is absolutely perfect!  I really love Ronan's portrayal of Jo's strength, especially when she negotiates with her publisher for control of the copyright for her book, and her vulnerability, particularly when she rethinks turning down Laurie's proposal because she is lonely.  However, I was so impressed by Pugh's performance because Amy is a character that I usually dislike (I always want Jo to end up with Laurie).  She portrays Amy as precocious rather than bratty and I liked the fact that she secretly loves Laurie throughout the whole movie because it makes their relationship more understandable.  Chalamet is so charming as Laurie, Dern (who is hit or miss with me) is perfect as Marmee, Cooper is more sentimental rather than curmudgeonly as Mr. Laurence, and Streep steals every scene she is in as Aunt March.  I love the costumes, the production design (especially the attic in the March house where the sisters perform their plays), and the beautiful score by Alexandre Desplat (one of my favorite film composers).  I am sure that this is a movie that I will watch over and over again (I've already seen it twice) and I highly recommend it for a lovely movie viewing experience!

Debussy's La Mer

I specifically picked last night's Utah Symphony concert because I anticipated that I would need something to get me through the first days back to school after winter break.  It actually wasn't that bad but I am still glad I picked this concert because it was wonderful.  I wasn't familiar with any of the pieces that were performed but I loved them all!  The orchestra began with Leonore Overture No. 3 (from the opera that was eventually renamed Fidelio) by Ludwig van Beethoven.  This tells the story of Florestan, a man who has been unjustly imprisoned in a gloomy dungeon, and it is very atmospheric but then it becomes triumphant as he contemplates his redemption.  My favorite part was a dramatic fanfare by a solo trumpet off stage, which represents Florestan's jailer giving him a reprieve.  Next came Edgar Meyer's Violin Concerto featuring Associate Concertmaster Kathryn Eberle as soloist.  This piece was originally commissioned for Hilary Hahn, a frequent soloist with the Utah Symphony, and I absolutely loved it.  It is very beautiful and it has a bluegrass feel to it.  I especially loved the duet between the solo violin and a contrabassoon.  Eberle was amazing (I always enjoy her as a soloist) and she received a rousing standing ovation.  After the intermission, the orchestra played a quirky piece called Moler by Arlene Sierra.  I found this piece to be a bit cacophonous but I kind of dug it.  The concert concluded with La Mer by Claude Debussy and it was absolutely lovely.  Each of the three movements represent a different period of time during a day at sea.  I really enjoyed the first movement because there were several different melodies played briefly by various sections of the orchestra and it sounded like waves that were gathering momentum and then dissipating.  It was really cool!  For the encore, the orchestra played two waltzes by Johann Strauss Jr. to ring in the new year, as they do in Vienna, complete with confetti and a champagne toast by conductor Conner Covington.  It was so fun!  This program will be repeated again at tonight's concert (go here for tickets) and trust me when I say that you don't want to miss it!

Note:  I will return to my reviews of the movies I saw over winter break tomorrow!

Cats

Unfortunately, the next movie in my winter break marathon was Cats.  I saw the stage musical Cats for the first time on a trip to London.  I thought it was the most ridiculous thing I had ever seen but the friends I saw it with absolutely loved it!  Clearly I was missing something (to be fair I saw it the night after I saw Les Miserables, which was a dream come true, so almost anything would have been anticlimactic after that).  I decided that I needed to see it again so I went with my best friend and her family when the Broadway touring company came to SLC.  They were amazed by it and, once again, I was completely underwhelmed.  I have since seen it several more times and, even though it is not my favorite, I have come to appreciate the choreography and the song "Memory."  When I saw the trailers for the movie adaptation, the CGI looked horrible but I thought that, with Andy Blankenbuehler of Hamilton as choreographer, the dancing would be fantastic, and, with Jennifer Hudson as Grizabella, "Memory" would be great so I decided to see it on Christmas Eve.  It was even worse than I was anticipating.  There really isn't a plot because it is about a gang of cats, known as Jellicles, who compete to be the chosen one who gets to go to the Heaviside Layer and be reborn into a different life.  It is a weird premise but this is not the main problem with the movie.  The CGI is an absolute mess and I found the cat characters to be so strange looking.  Some of them have human hands and feet, sometimes their heads just seem to be floating on their bodies, and their proportions are so inconsistent.  Many of the musical numbers are incredibly bizarre, especially "The Gumbie Cat" which is truly horrific with Rebel Wilson as Jennyanydots eating mice and cockroaches with faces and "The Jellicle Ball" which is basically a cat orgy (several people walked out of my screening after this).  As much as I love Judi Dench, I was not a fan of her performance as Old Deuteronomy because she is not really a great singer and she always seems so confused (maybe she had too much of Bombalurina's catnip).  I also didn't really care for Idris Elba as Macavity because his characterization is really evil rather than mischievous.   What was most disappointing for me was the dancing because it could have been so amazing.   There are lots of fast cuts and changes in angles so we never get to see sustained shots of the dancing.  There is one exception when Victoria, played by Francesca Hayward, pirouettes around the room and it is so exhilarating that it makes me wonder what might have been.  Finally, I didn't even like Hudson's version of "Memory."  I have seen both Elaine Paige, who originated the role of Grizabella in the West End, and Betty Buckley, who performed the role on Broadway, sing it live with the Utah Symphony and Hudson's version doesn't hold a candle to theirs.  I thought she sounded much too angry and I was distracted by the snot running down her face.  I did, rather surprisingly, enjoy James Corden's version of "Bustopher Jones" and I loved Taylor Swift's version of "Macavity" but there is just so much that is truly awful that I can't possibly recommend it.

Jumanji: The Next Level

As in years past, I spent much of my winter break in a darkened movie theater and I loved it!  Now that I am back to school I will review the movies that I saw over the break beginning with Jumanji: The Next Level.  During winter break two years ago I asked Sean and Tashena to pick a movie that I could take them to and they picked Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.  I didn't particularly want to see this movie but I ended up really enjoying it!  When we found out about the sequel, Sean and I waited until Tashena came home for winter break so that we could see it together.  We all liked it.  Spencer (Alex Wolff), Fridge (Ser'Darius Blain), Martha (Morgan Turner), and Bethany (Madison Iseman) have returned home from college and plan a reunion.  Spencer, who is struggling in college, feels apprehensive about meeting everyone and decides to repair the Jumanji game so that he can be the hero Dr. Xander "Smolder" Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson) again to gain some confidence.  When Spencer doesn't show up to the reunion, the others go to his house and meet his Grandpa Eddie (Danny DeVito) and Eddie's former friend and business partner Milo (Danny Glover).  They find the repaired Jumanji game and decide to play in order to bring Spencer back.  Martha is once again Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan) but Fridge becomes Dr. Sheldon "Shelly" Osborn (Jack Black), Eddie becomes Dr. Bravestone, and Milo becomes Franklin "Mouse" Finbar (Kevin Hart).  Bethany is left behind and must find former player Alex (Colin Hanks) to help her get back into the game.  Alex once again becomes Jefferson "Seaplane" McDonough (Nick Jonas) and Bethany becomes a horse named Cyclone.  They eventually find Spencer, who has become Ming Fleetfoot (Awkwafina), and learn that they must return the Falcon's Heart, a magical necklace stolen by Jurgen the Brutal (Rory McCann), to the sunlight in order to end the drought in Jumanji and win the game.  There are some fun action sequences in the desert while the avatars are chased by ostriches, over suspension bridges while they are chased by Mandrill monkeys, and in a fortress on a snow-covered mountain.  However, once again, what makes this movie so much fun is that the characters have the physical characteristics of their avatars but keep their own personalities.  This creates a lot of physical comedy because Grandpa Eddie is now physically strong and goes looking for fights and Fridge is not used to being so physically challenged.  All of the actors do a great job but I especially enjoyed Kevin Hart because he does a perfect imitation of Danny Glover.  In my opinion, it is not quite as funny as the first movie but I laughed out loud multiple times and we had a lot of fun watching it.  I recommend it to fans of the original.