Third

Over the weekend my niece Tashena competed at a by-invitation-only track meet at Utah Valley University.  Only the best of the best were invited and, apparently, Tashena is ranked third in the state of Utah in discus!  Yeah.  No big deal!  I think it is amazing that she has this ranking because she is only a sophomore!  At this meet she ended up getting fourth place (which made her very unhappy) but everyone ahead of her was a senior.  I am so proud of this girl!

Note:  We are all saving our money to watch her compete at the Olympics!

North by Northwest

Yesterday I had the chance to see North By Northwest on the big screen again!  It is one of my very favorite movies so I couldn't pass up the chance to see it as it was meant to be seen one more time.  It is the first Alfred Hitchcock movie I remember watching (on PBS late at night when I was in high school) and I think it is a great introduction to Hitchcock because it is a stylish and suspenseful action thriller with Cold War intrigue that is highly entertaining.  Cary Grant is Roger Thornhill, a Madison Avenue ad executive, who is inadvertently mistaken for George Kaplan, a nonexistent CIA agent created to protect a real agent in pursuit of a spy seeking to smuggle microfilm out of the country.  Eva Marie Saint is Eve Kendall, the requisite icy blonde who helps Thornhill elude the police.  In my opinion, almost every scene in this movie is absolutely iconic, including the kinetic typography in the opening credits, the drunken car chase along a winding coastal highway, the crop duster attack on a lonely prairie highway, and the final confrontation on top of Mount Rushmore.  I look forward to each of these scenes with anticipation.  I love all of the locations in this film:  the Plaza Hotel, the mansion in Glen Cove, the U.N. General Assembly Building, Grand Central Station, the cafeteria at Mount Rushmore, and the house inspired by architect Frank Loyd Wright.  The costumes are fabulous, especially the grey suit worn by Cary Grant through most of the movie, and those worm by Eva Marie Saint, which, apparently, she selected at Bergdorf Goodman.  I love the characters and I find Roger Thornhill to be the very definition of suave and sophisticated (all men should try to be more like Cary Grant).  The witty banter between Roger and Eve is so much fun.  Finally, the score by Bernard Herrmann, who scored many of Hitchcock's movies, is quite stirring and adds much to the suspense.  I love this movie so much!

Note:  It was screened as part of TMC's Big Screen Classics series.  Go here for more information about the upcoming movies in the series.  I am really looking forward to quite a few of them!

The Lion King at the Eccles

Even though I have seen The Lion King many times (I saw it on Broadway less than a year ago), I don't think that I will ever get tired of it because it is absolutely magical!  I don't think I've ever made it through "Circle of Life" without getting a tear in my eye.  That baby elephant coming up the aisle gets me every time!  I saw the touring company production last night and it ranks right up there with productions I've seen on Broadway and in London.  I enjoyed every minute of it (tears and all).   The stage musical tells the well-known story of how a lion cub learns how to be a king and it includes many of the songs from the animated classic as well as some new ones.  I absolutely love the puppets and prosthetics used to represent the animals.  After a while you don't even see the actors manipulating the puppets.  My favorites are the giraffes and elephants.  The staging is incredible and I especially love the traditional music used as Mufasa and Simba frolic on the grasslands, when Sarabi and the lionesses hunt an antelope, and the wildebeest stampede in the gorge.  I was very impressed with the lead actors in this production and I had goosebumps when Mufasa (Gerald Ramsey) sang "They Live in You" and when Simba (Dashaun Young) sang "Endless Night."  Nia Holloway (as Nala) sang my favorite song, "Shadowland," better than I've ever heard it before.  I also really liked Rafiki (Buyi Zama) and her rendition of "He Lives in You (Reprise)."   My favorite part of seeing The Lion King, as ever, is watching the wonder on the faces of the children as they see all of the animals and this production made me feel like I did the first time I saw it.  It is just so magical!  It will run at the Eccles Theatre until April 16 (go here for tickets) and I highly recommend that you bring the children!

Note:  I think I enjoyed this production more than the one on Broadway because the sound was better.  I could actually hear Scar and the hyenas.  I did, however, miss eating cheesecake at Junior's after the show!

Ghost in the Shell

Last night I saw Ghost in the Shell, the other major release this weekend (for the record, I categorically refuse to see Boss Baby).  Let me say at the outset that I have not seen the iconic anime classic upon which this new film is based so I have nothing to which to compare it.  I have to judge this film on its own merits and on that basis I think it is pretty spectacular!  In a terrifying future, most humans have been cybernetically enhanced but Hanka Robotics has created a technological breakthrough by implanting a human brain into a mechanical shell named Mira Killian (Scarlett Johansson).  She is programmed to be a counter terrorism operative and achieves the rank of Major.  When several Hanka scientists are killed, Major discovers that a hacker who has connections to her past life is responsible.  To be sure, when all is said and done, it is basically a police procedural but the visuals and special effects are absolutely incredible.  I was completely immersed in this world, a pan-Asian city with giant holographic billboards, and the action sequences are amazing, especially an assassination using robotic geishas and an invisible fight in a lagoon.  Scarlett Johansson gives a great performance with a steely-eyed stare and an almost mechanical walk and I also enjoyed Juliette Binoche as the scientist who crated Major and Pilou Asbaek as another operative.  I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and I recommend it, although fans of the original might make negative comparisons.

Note:  I saw this film in IMAX 3D and, for once, I highly recommend paying extra to see it in this format!

The Zookeeper's Wife

The Zookeeper's Wife is a true story about an ordinary woman who did extraordinary things to save countless Jews during the Holocaust.  Historical dramas, particularly those set during World War II, are very appealing to me so I was definitely predisposed to love this film as I walked into the theater last night.  I didn't love it by the time I walked out of the theater.  Antonina Zabinska (Jessica Chastain) and her husband Jan (Johan Heldenbergh) run the Warsaw Zoo on the eve of the German invasion of Poland in 1939.  During the bombing of Warsaw, many of the animals are killed but the Zabinskis do their best to save as many as they can.  The director of the Berlin Zoo, Lutz Heck (Daniel Bruhl), arrives because he wants to save some of the best stock for breeding purposes.  After Antonina reluctantly agrees, Heck transfers the animals he selects but ruthlessly kills the rest, mirroring certain aspects of the Holocaust.  The Zabinskis propose that they keep the zoo open to raise pigs as a food supply and receive permission to collect scraps from the Warsaw ghetto to feed them.  They decide to hide one of their Jewish friends in an underground cage and then decide to help other Jews escape from the ghetto in the garbage truck as they collect the scraps.  They eventually fill the underground cages with as many Jews as they can right under the nose of Lutz as he uses the zoo for his breeding program.  Jan joins the resistance and is wounded and captured during the Warsaw Uprising so when Lutz realizes what has been going on, Antonina evacuates all of the Jews to face him alone.  This movie does so many things very well: it has a compelling story, beautiful production design, and an outstanding performance by Chastain.  However, the action left me feeling somewhat flat.  There is no tension because there is never a sense of peril for the Jews.  The German officers are portrayed as either benign, especially Lutz because he is enamored with Antonina until he turns on her in the final scenes (and even then he takes pity on her), or downright clueless, especially the guards at the ghetto who always seem to be looking away as the Jews climb into the garbage truck.  In fact, I felt more emotionally connected to the animals and the scenes that affected me the most were when they were in peril.  It is a good period drama but I was expecting so much more.