A Wrinkle in Time

Last night I saw a Thursday preview of A Wrinkle in Time and, despite the fact that it is visually gorgeous with an important message about simply being yourself, I have to admit that I really did not like it.  Dr. Alex Murry (Chris Pine) has discovered a way to travel great distances through the universe using a tesseract, or a wrinkle in the fabric of time and space, and then he disappears for four years.  His daughter Meg (Storm Reid) is not handling his absence well but her younger brother Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe) introduces her to three strange beings named Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon), Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling), and Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey) who take the two of them along with Calvin (Levi Miller), a school friend, on a journey through the universe to find him.  Meg ultimately must battle the evil in the universe with love to free both her father and her brother.  I first read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle when I was eleven years old and I absolutely loved it.  The problem with bringing a beloved work of fantasy to the screen is that it represents the filmmaker's vision and that may differ significantly from a reader's vision.  This is not necessarily the fault of the filmmakers but the images on the screen, while absolutely beautiful, did not in any way resemble what I saw in my mind when I read this book all of those years ago and I really couldn't get past that.  I always pictured the Mrs. Ws as being eccentric old ladies who were more like grandmotherly figures to Meg rather than outlandish beings with garish hair and makeup and gaudy costumes.  Sadly, that is not the only problem I had with this adaptation.  I thought all of the acting was terrible.  Witherspoon and Kaling ham it up at every turn with knowing looks at the camera and Winfrey gives one speech after another about self-empowerment and it gets rather tedious.  I didn't especially like what Zach Galifianakis, as the Happy Medium, and Michael Pena, as the Red Eyed Man, did with their roles and don't even get me started on the overly precocious McCabe.  Although she and Pine have an affecting moment together near the end of the movie, Reid didn't make me care about Meg as a character because she is so passive and just reacts to what other people do.  By the end of the movie I had lost whatever interest I had in the characters (I almost left the theater before the movie was over).  There are so many plot holes that it becomes a confusing mess and the audience is told, rather than shown, what is happening.  The CGI is laughably horrible and it is very obvious that the young actors are reacting to green screens.  It seems as if the only direction they were given was to flail their arms wildly as they run!  It really does pain me to say that I didn't like this movie because representation is so important but sometimes a movie with the best of intentions is still a bad movie.

Every Day

As a high school English teacher I read a lot of YA fiction because I am always on the lookout for good books to recommend to my students who are very reluctant readers.  To be honest, most of it is rubbish but I actually really loved Every Day by David Levithan because I thought it was incredibly clever and thought-provoking.  When I learned that a movie adaptation was in the works, I really hoped that it would be good.  I had the chance to see it yesterday and I liked it. A is a mysterious spirit who wakes up in a different body every day.  It is always someone the same age, although it can be someone of a different gender, race, and sexual orientation, who lives in the same geographical location.  A tries to integrate into the person's life and do as little damage as possible but everything changes when A inhabits Justin (Justice Smith).  While in Justin's body, A meets Justin's girlfriend Rhiannon (Angourie Rice) and feels an immediate connection to her.  Rhiannon also feels a connection to Justin that had never been there before as they spend a magical day at the beach together.  When A wakes up in another body (a girl named Amy) the next day, she seeks Rhiannon out and eventually tries to explain.  A continues seeking Rhiannon out even though there are consequences for those he inhabits (the story of Nathan believing he is possessed by the devil is less developed in the movie than the book).  As Rhiannon falls in love with A, she eventually realizes the difficulties with such a relationship.  In order to appreciate this movie you have to be willing to accept the concept (and ignore a few inconsistencies, such as how they are able to communicate using cell phones that belong to other people).  The reason why A inhabits different bodies every day is never explained but, in my opinion, that it not what this movie is all about.  Rather, it is about loving someone for who they are rather than their appearance and loving someone enough to let them go.  Rice gives an endearing performance and it is really easy to root for her.  I also liked how each of the different actors playing A give the character similar mannerisms.  This is definitely a movie that will appeal to the demographic for which it was meant (my screening was full of teenage girls) but I enjoyed it and recommend it for its sweet romance and powerful message.

Red Sparrow

I am a huge fan of espionage so I was really intrigued by Red Sparrow and went to see it yesterday.  Dominika Egorova (Jennifer Lawrence) is a ballerina with the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow when she suffers a career ending injury at the hands of a fellow dancer.  Worried that she will no longer be able to support her ailing mother (Joely Richardson) she is coerced by her uncle (Matthias Schoenaerts), an agent in Russian intelligence, to become a Sparrow, an agent trained to seduce her target to gain information.  After grueling training under the tutelage of the Matron (Charlotte Rampling) at State School 4, or “Sparrow School,” she is sent to Budapest to meet up with Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton), a CIA agent, to learn the identity of the double agent he is running in Moscow.  I judge all spy movies on whether or not they can keep me guessing and this is an intense and suspenseful thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat trying to unravel who was double-crossing whom.  There is not a lot of action, like you would normally see in a typical spy thriller, but the character-driven intrigue is what creates the tension.  I think Jennifer Lawrence gives a good performance and I wasn't at all bothered by her much-maligned accent.  There are some pretty graphic sex and torture scenes but, in my opinion, they are appropriate within the context of the story and not at all gratuitous.  One particularly disturbing scene where an attempted rape is recreated at the Sparrow school is used to help Dominika learn to detach herself from her body.  It is exploitative but that is the entire point of the movie.  She has been forced into this situation by men with power over her and that is what makes the final resolution so incredibly satisfying!  These scenes might bother some some sensitive viewers but I actually thought they were a lot tamer than what I was led led to believe.  I liked this movie quite a bit and I would recommend it to fans of the genre.

Note: I thought the nudity and sex in Atomic Blonde was much more gratuitous.

The Sound of Music at the Eccles

Last night I had the opportunity to see the Broadway touring company production of The Sound of Music now currently playing at the Eccles Theater.  This story about a high spirited nun who is sent to be the governess to Captain Von Trapp's seven children has long been one of my very favorite musicals but I am more familiar with the 1965 movie starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer than I am with the stage version.  The production that I saw last night is based on the original book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse which is quite different from the movie and I found it to be a bit jarring.  I was happily anticipating all of my favorite scenes and songs and I have to admit that I was a little bit disappointed when I was surprised by something else.  Some of the songs from the movie are omitted, such as "Confidence" which is such a fun number.  Some songs that are not in the movie are included, such as "How Can Love Survive?" and "No Way to Stop It" which are both sung by Baroness Schraeder (Melissa McKamie) and Max Detweiler (Jake Mills).  I didn't particularly care for either song because I don't really care about either of these characters.  I wanted more time with Maria (Sarah Brackett) and the Captain (Mike McLean) because their romance seems very rushed in this version.  Quite a few of the songs are performed in a different scene than they are in the movie.  For example, "My Favorite Things" is sung between Maria and the Mother Abbess (Lauren Kidwell), "Do-Re-Mi" is sung when Maria first meets the children, "The Lonely Goatherd" is sung when the children are scared of the thunderstorm, and "Eidelweiss" is not sung until the music festival near the end of the show.  After a while I decided to stop comparing it to the movie and simply enjoy the performances, which are fantastic!  Brackett, who is the understudy, is delightful as Maria.  All of the Von Trapp children are adorable, especially Sophia Massa as little Gretl, and they have beautiful voices which harmonize very well.  Kidwell just about blows the roof off the Eccles Theater with her rendition of "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," definitely a highlight of the show.  I would absolutely recommend this show because it is such a classic that everyone in the family will enjoy but if the movie is your touchstone, like it is for me, just be prepared for some differences.  It runs at the Eccles Theater until March 4.

Note:  Broadway at the Eccles announced the shows coming to SLC next season and I could not be more excited!  The lineup includes Waitress, Come From Away, Finding Neverland, Aladdin, School of Rock, and RENT!  The season add-ons are Wicked and The Book of Mormon.  My sister Kristine has never see Wicked before so my Mom, Marilyn, and I are going to take her for a fun girls night!  Broadway at the Eccles also teased us with the announcement that Dear Evan Hansen will be coming the following year!  Squeal!  Go here for more information.

i at PTC

Last night I went to the world premiere of an incredibly thought-provoking play by Jeff Talbott called i.  I didn't know anything about it because there were no director's notes provided in the program and the setting was listed as a city sometime soon.  Now that I have seen it I think it is much better to go in blind and let the events (and the plot twist) surprise you.  It begins with a clearly distraught young woman named Sarah Cooper (Kathleen McElfresh) as she is interviewed by a doctor before undergoing a mysterious medical procedure.  The next time we see her she seems to be a completely different woman who has relocated to another city.  Then she meets Jake Bellamy (Todd Gearhart) and her new life begins to unravel.  This play is a profound meditation on identity and my mind was swirling with so many ideas as I left the theater!  What role do our memories play in who we are?  Is it better to feel nothing at all rather than feel sad?  Just because something is possible does that mean it should be done?   This play requires quite a bit of engagement as it is comprised mostly of intimate conversations between the two main characters (several people sitting near me were clearly restless) but I really enjoyed it.  The minimal set, composed of moving plexiglass panels, and the lighting cues are very effective at conveying the isolation felt by the main characters.  Both McElfresh and Gearhart give highly nuanced performances that I found to be incredibly affecting and I was very impressed by the sheer number of characters portrayed by Nefeesa Monroe.  I applaud Pioneer Theatre for its willingness to produce new works like this and I highly recommend this production.  It runs through March 3 and tickets may be purchased here.