Queen of Katwe

Saturday night I went to see Queen of Katwe, a heart-warming true story about a young girl's determination to succeed against all odds.  Phiona Mutesi (Medina Nalwanga) is a young girl living in Katwe, a slum of Kampala, Uganda.  Instead of going to school, she gets up early every morning to get water and spends the rest of the day selling vegetables on the street to support her family.  Robert Katende (David Oyelowo) has a degree in engineering (with the highest marks) but he can't get a job in that field because he also grew up in the slums and has no family connections.  He takes a job as a counselor in a sports outreach ministry and begins teaching a chess class.  Phiona watches from afar until Robert invites her in and she immediately impresses him with her ability despite the fact that she can barely read.  He decides to take some of the children to a prestigious chess tournament.  Phiona's mother (Lupita Nyong'o) wants a better life for her daughter but is wary because she needs Phiona to help support the family and doesn't want her to get "ideas."  Phiona is eventually allowed to go and begins winning at other tournaments but she is beset by one tragedy after another.  She decides to become a Grand Master so that she won't have to live like her mother any more.  I found Phiona's story to be incredibly moving (I cried just watching the previews).  It is a bit cliched, but Nalwanga, Oyelowo, and Nyong'o give a highly affecting performances, especially Nalwanga as the young prodigy.  The chess tournament scenes, believe it or not, are incredibly entataining, particularly when one of the children struts around the chess boards after winning.  It is a stand-up-and-cheer movie and I highly recommend it to anyone who needs something to cheer for.

Note:  My favorite part of the movie is during the closing credits when the actor and the real person portrayed interact with each other.  Ethan Nazario Lubega was so much fun to watch as Benjamin, one of the other chess players in the program, because he is so cheeky.  The real Benjamin is just as cheeky!

Fall and Football

Yesterday was the first day of October (which is definitely my favorite month) and it was a perfect fall day!  The temperature was brisk, the sky was blue, and there was a smell of decomposing leaves in the air.  What better way to celebrate fall than by watching a football game?  Sean's team played the Grantsville Cowboys (they played in Grantsville which is an hour away so I had to get up even earlier) and they have the best record in the league.  They were expecting a shutout against the Braves but the Braves had other plans!  Sean (and the team) played so well!  He played both offense and defense and I think he was on the sideline for about two minutes!  He is getting so good at football, more aggressive and more confident!  I just love watching him play; in fact, it is becoming the highlight of my week.  Yesterday was definitely the highlight of a difficult week!  Here are some pictures of the action.

Note:  Do you love fall as much as I do?  Here are two of my favorite fall posts:  Fall Fun for the Locals and Five Fall Drives Near SLC.  Check them out!

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

Last night I saw an early screening of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Tim Burton's adaptation of the popular novel by Ransom Riggs, and it is, well, peculiar.  When I say peculiar, I mean it in a good way, a Tim-Burton-takes-us-on-a-fantastical-journey good way.  When Jake's (Asa Butterfield) grandfather dies from a horrible attack by a monster only he can see, he follows clues left to him by his grandfather to an island near Wales.  He eventually finds the orphanage where his grandfather grew up but it is in ruins.  While trying to return to the orphanage, he meets Emma (Ella Purnell), who can manipulate air, and Millard (Cameron King), who is invisible, and they take him back to the orphanage, now fully restored.   Jake is introduced to Miss Peregrine (Eva Green) and other children who have "peculiarities" and learns that it is now 1945 and they live in a loop which allows them to reset the day just before the Nazis drop a bomb on the orphanage.  He eventually learns that the monster who killed his grandfather is one of a group of Hollows who prey upon the peculiars at the behest of the Wights led by Mr. Barron (Samuel L. Jackson).  Jake must use his peculiarity to save Miss Peregrine and the children in an epic showdown with the Hollows and the Wights as well as decide where he really belongs.  Does the plot sound complicated?  It is.  There is a tremendous amount of exposition in this film and it does occasionally get bogged down in its own storytelling.  But that is of little consequence because this film is so visually stunning.  As Tim Burton is wont to do, he creates a fully realized world that could only exist in your imagination and lets the children use it as a playground to display their peculiarities.  My favorite scene is when Emma floats to the top of a tree to rescue a baby squirrel.  Eva Green is a true heir to Helena Bonham Carter (Burton's former muse) in terms of eccentricities (she even has a strange hairstyle with blue highlights) and I loved her performance.  The battle scenes are fantastic, especially since one of the peculiar children can bring inanimate objects to life.  Once this film gets going, it is a lot of fun to watch and I highly recommend it to fans of the novel and of Tim Burton.

Note:  One of my favorite aspects of the novel is the use of vintage photographs and I really like the way the film incorporated them.

Milford Sound

While we were in Queenstown on the South Island of New Zealand for a few days, we took a day trip to one of the most beautiful places I've ever been: Milford Sound!  It is a fjord that runs fifteen kilometers inland from the Tasman Sea and is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise up to 1,200 meters with many dazzling waterfalls.  We took a cruise through the fjord and it was absolutely amazing (even better than the fjords in Norway, in my opinion).

 

The pictures do not do this place justice!  It is incredible and it is no wonder that Milford Sound is one of the top tourist destinations in the world!  It does take some effort to get there, five hours from Queenstown, but it was worth it!

Note:  We almost didn't get to see Milford Sound because it snowed over night and created an avalanche hazard.  We had to wait over an hour at a roadblock before we were cleared to continue on our way!  I am certainly glad we were able see this amazing place!  The South Island of New Zealand is breathtaking!

The Beautiful South Island of New Zealand

After a few days in Sydney we flew to Christchurch, New Zealand for one night and then spent a day driving to Queenstown.  We had a few spectacular stops on the way!  Our first stop was Lake Tekapo and the Church of the Good Shepherd.

Our next stop was Lake Pukaki and it was so beautiful!  This glacier-fed lake reminded me so much of the lakes in Western Canada.

Once we got to Queenstown we went up the Skyline Gondola for some spectacular views of the city, Lake Wakatipu, and the Remarkables mountain range.

 

Later that evening we took a vintage steamship called the TSS Earnshaw across the lake to a sheep station for dinner (which was delicious).  It was fascinating to see the engineers shoveling coal into the engine to power the ship!

I fell in love with the South Island in just one day!