Norman

On Monday night I went to see the dark comedy Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer.  Richard Gere gives an incredible performance (possibly the best of his career) as Norman Oppenheimer, a small-time hustler in New York City who does an enormous favor for Micha Eschel (Lior Ashkenazi), a low-level diplomat in the Israeli government, in order to get an invitation to a dinner thrown by Arthur Taub (Josh Charles), a high profile financier (the exchange between Norman and Taub is one of the most cringe-worthy scenes I've ever seen).  Norman's prospects change when, three years later, Eschel becomes the Prime Minister of Israel.  He does a few more favors for Eschel, such as getting his son into Harvard, and then attempts to use this connection to his advantage.  Will he pull off the biggest deals of his life or will it all come crashing down around him?   I enjoyed this often slow-moving film because of Richard Gere's sympathetic portrayal of a character who is pretty annoying, especially when he tries to hustle a woman on a train, but somehow you can't help rooting for him to succeed.  There is an especially poignant scene where Eschel essentially throws him under the bus to save his political career and it almost brought me to tears.  I liked how many of the phone conversations are portrayed as if the two people talking are side-by-side (there are many phone conversations because Norman is always hustling).  Finally, I also really liked the supporting cast:  Michael Sheen as Norman's much beleaguered nephew, Dan Stevens (who seems to be everywhere these days) as a financier, and Steve Buscemi as a rabbi.  This film is quite dark in tone so is not for everybody but I recommend it to those who like character-driven films about interesting people.

Smokey and the Bandit

Sunday afternoon I went to see the 1977 movie Smokey and the Bandit on the big screen thanks to the free tickets I won from Classic Movie Hub.  I actually remember watching it on the big screen when I was a kid, fueling an obsession with my Dad's CB radio (his handle was Grapevine) and warning fellow motorists about the smokeys on the highway.  It was so much fun to see it again!  The premise of this movie is that a wealthy Texas businessman (Pat McCormick) and his son (Paul Williams) want to serve Coors beer at one of their events in Georgia but it is illegal to sell it east of the Mississippi River.  They offer trucker Bo "Bandit" Darville (Burt Reynolds) $80,000 to haul 400 cases of Coors from Texas back to Georgia in 28 hours.  He accepts the challenge and recruits his partner Cledus "Snowman" Snow (Jerry Reid) to drive the truck while he drives the "blocker" (a sweet black Trans Am) to divert attention away from the truck.  On the way back to Georgia, Bandit stops to pick up a runaway bride (Sally Field) and, in doing so, he attracts the attention of Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason), a sheriff in Texas and the father of the groom, who pursues him all the way to Georgia.  There are epic car chases and crashes as Justice's police cruiser gets more and more banged up.  This movie is incredibly dated (with hilarious costumes and hairstyles from the 1970s) and the acting is a bit over-the-top, but I thought it was an absolute hoot and I enjoyed hearing all of the CB jargon from my youth.  I laughed out loud so many times (at just about everything Jackie Gleason said) as did everyone in the theater.  It is being screened for its 40th Anniversary in select theaters as part of the TCM Big Screen Classics series and I recommend it to anyone who remembers it fondly.

State Champion

On Saturday my niece competed at the Utah State Track & Field Championships in discus.  She has struggled a little bit this year but that only made her more determined to succeed.  After failing to make the finals at the BYU Invitational, she started working with a private coach and all of her hard work paid off!  With a 126' throw, she became the 2017 4A State Champion!  I am so proud of her, not only because she won, but because she didn't give up and she used adversity to become even better!  Her whole life has been about overcoming adversity and I truly believe that she can do anything she wants if she sets her mind to it!  Good job, Tashena!

Note:  She is the only sophomore on that podium!

Rugby Is Crazy!

Yesterday my Mom, Marilyn, and I got up early to watch Sean's first rugby games of the season but it was kind of a bust.  Copper Hills forfeited the first game so we didn't get to see him play and then the games got so far behind that we had to leave before Bountiful could play Davis.  But Sean was really happy that we were there and we did get to see a few other games, including the team from Hunter who beat Herriman, so I know a little bit more about rugby.  It is really fast and physical and it is a lot of fun to watch.  I look forward to the rest of the season (and actually seeing Sean play).

Note:  Several of the teams have girls and they are tough.  One girl got hit really hard and fell to the ground for a few minutes and then got right back up and tackled a player.  In football there would have been a 5 minute timeout!

Utah Opera's Don Giovanni

Mozart's Don Giovanni is my very favorite opera.  I've seen it several times and I had the opportunity to see Utah Opera's production last night.  Don Giovanni (Joshua Hopkins) is a rake who spends most of his time trying to add to his considerable list of conquests with the help of his loyal servant, Leporello (Matthew Burns).  The opera opens with the attempted rape of Donna Anna (Melinda Whittington) by Giovanni.  Her father, the Commentadore (Richard Wiegold), challenges him and, in a struggle, Giovanni kills him.  Anna begs her fiancé, Don Ottavio (Aaron Blake) to avenge her honor and her father's death.  Next, Giovanni and Leporello observe Donna Elvira (Caitlin Lynch) lamenting the fact that her lover has abandoned her and, realizing that she is talking about him, Giovanni mocks her mercilessly.  She vows revenge.  Finally, Giovanni openly attempts to seduce Zerlina (Sarah Coit) during her wedding, enraging the groom Masetto (Markel Reed) who also vows revenge.  As all of these characters attempt to exact justice, Giovanni is somehow able to elude them, most notably by having Leporello impersonate him while he attempts to seduce Elvira's maid.  Giovanni can't hide forever as the ghost of the Commentadore returns from the dead to accuse him and send him to hell.  The music of this opera is absolutely beautiful (Oh, how I love Mozart) and the Utah Symphony performs it brilliantly, from the dramatic opening notes of the Overture to the shattering conclusion.  All of the actors sing their roles with so much passion and I was especially impressed with Wiegold, who is quite terrifying in the final scene.  Director Kristine McIntyre, in an attempt to make this opera more accessible to audiences, modernized the setting and gave the production a film noir treatment.  The color palette is entirely black and white with very low lighting.  The action takes place on the streets of a big city and the men are portrayed as gangsters in dark suits, trench coats, and fedoras and the women are either victims or femme fatales in elegant dresses with full skirts.  Without a doubt, this is an amazing production which I highly recommend (there is only one performance left!) but, to be honest, I missed the grandeur of the original setting and I found the alternate ending to be a bit anticlimactic.  I sometimes think that directors underestimate their audience.  We don't necessarily need to have the material  dumbed down made more accessible to understand and enjoy the libretto.  But, what do I know?  My favorite staging of this opera is the Twyla Tharp version in the movie Amadeus.