It: Chapter Two

I am a huge fan of Stephen King's best-selling novel It!  I thought it was a brilliant idea to divide the story into two movies, with the first one focusing on the events in 1989 and the second one focusing on the present, but I have to admit that as soon as I walked out of It I started looking forward to the conclusion (and immediately started casting all of the adult roles in my head).  After anticipating It: Chapter Two for so long I finally got to see it last night at a Thursday preview.  In 1989, Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Martell), Beverly Marsh (Sophia Lillis), Ben Hanscom (Jeremy Ray Taylor), Richie Tozier (Finn Wolfhard), Mike Hanlon (Chosen Jacobs), Eddie Kaspbrak (Jack Dylan Grazer), and Stanley Uris (Wyatt Oleff) are able to defeat the evil presence that appears in Derry every 27 years but they do not kill it.  They make a blood pact to return to Derry if it reappears again.  In the present, Mike (Isaiah Mustafa), the only member of the Loser's Club who remained in Derry, calls Bill (James McAvoy), Beverly (Jessica Chastain), Ben (Jay Ryan), Richie (Bill Hader), Eddie (James Ransone), and Stan (Andy Bean) when there are some unexplained deaths.  All but Stan return even though they have forgotten much of what happened.  They all must eventually confront their pasts in order to retrieve artifacts to use in an ancient ritual which they conduct in the sewers of Derry.  Will this ritual be enough to kill the evil presence that appears in the guise of Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Bill Skarsgard)?  I loved the performances of the young actors in the first movie and I thought the filmmakers did a brilliant job of casting the adult roles (I thought Teach Grant, the adult version of Henry Bowers, was also spot-on).  The actors do a great job of recreating all of the idiosyncrasies of the younger characters, particularly Ransone as Eddie.  The adults have just as much camaraderie as the kids and infuse a lot of comedic elements to balance out the horror (it was fun seeing this with a rowdy crowd who laughed out loud multiple times).  There are some really scary moments but I think the first movie is a bit more unsettling because Pennywise is fighting younger and more vulnerable characters.  I didn't feel as much dread in the final confrontation.  I also think this movie is a lot longer than it needs to be because it kept returning unnecessarily to the events of the past and my mind sometimes wandered.  Still, I think the outstanding performances by the ensemble cast make this a satisfying conclusion to the saga and I recommend it to fans of the first movie.

Note:  Many of my students are reading the novel and they made me promise not to reveal any spoiler alerts in class today!

The Nightingale

I was very intrigued by the trailer for The Nightingale but I wasn't sure that I wanted to see it because I had heard that it was incredibly violent (many people walked out when it was screened at the Venice Film Festival).  However, one of my friends recommended it so highly that I changed my mind and saw it last night.  To be sure, it is absolutely brutal but it is also beautiful and one of the best films I've seen all year.  In Van Diemen's Land (present-day Tasmania) in the early 1800s, Clare (Aisling Franciosi) is an Irish convict serving as a laborer for a British Army outpost under the command of Lieutenant Hawkins (Sam Claflin).  An officer is visiting to determine if Hawkins should be promoted to Captain.  Clare's sentence has expired but Hawkins refuses to release her because he likes to hear her sing and calls her his Nightingale.  When Clare's husband Aidan (Michael Sheasby) drunkenly demands that Hawkins release her, it ends in an altercation that ultimately loses Hawkins his promotion.  In retaliation, Hawkins and his second-in-command brutally rape Clare and then he kills Aidan and their baby daughter.  Hawkins decides to travel through the treacherous bush to the town of Launceston to advocate for the promotion himself.  After persuading an Aboriginal tracker named Billy (Baykali Ganambarr) to help her, Clare decides to follow him through the bush to get revenge.  This is a very Gothic revenge film but, more than that, it is a beautiful story of friendship that is incredibly affecting.  Clare and Billy form an uneasy alliance and are hostile to each other until she learns of the atrocities perpetrated against the Aborigines and they bond over their mutual hatred of the British.  Billy (whose Aboriginal name means Blackbird) saves her life several times and they come to rely on each other and then care for each other.  I really loved watching their relationship unfold and there were many times when I was moved to tears.  The symbolism in this film is so powerful and I especially loved a scene where they get separated and a blackbird guides Clare back to the road.  The message about the evils of colonialism is also very powerful and I think it is one that everyone should hear.  Franciosi gives one of the most riveting performances that I have seen all year, Ganambarr is incredibly sympathetic as Billy (I was a sobbing mess during a scene where he breaks down and says that Australia is his country), and Claflin is so loathsome as Hawkins that it was hard for me not to hate him.  The cinematography is absolutely stunning, particularly the gorgeous final shot, and the score is so evocative.  There is no doubt that this movie is difficult to watch.  I do think the violence is very organic and not at all gratuitous but it is definitely not for the faint of heart.  Nevertheless, I highly recommend it.

After the Wedding

The film After the Wedding wasn't on my radar at all during the Sundance Film Festival this year but I found the trailer to be intriguing so I saw it last night.  Even though there are some great performances, it fell a little flat for me.  Isabel (Michelle Williams) is an American woman who runs an orphanage in India.  Theresa (Julianne Moore) is a wealthy media mogul who has offered to fund her orphanage with the proviso that Isabel come to New York to meet personally with her.  The visit coincides with the wedding of Theresa's daughter Grace (Abby Quinn) so Isabel is invited.  At the wedding, Isabel is surprised to see Theresa's husband Oscar (Billy Crudup), with whom she had a former relationship, and all three of them of them are forced to confront the past when further secrets are revealed.  The story is compelling enough and, as previously mentioned, both Williams and Moore give highly nuanced performances.  Williams reveals more with just a look than other actresses do with pages of dialogue, particularly in a scene where Isabel advocates for vaccines to keep children from dying of preventable diseases only to be interrupted by Theresa berating her assistant for not finding enough lobster to serve at the wedding and in a scene where she first recognizes Oscar across the room.  Moore is also excellent, particularly in a vodka fueled rant.  Despite these performances, many of the scenes lose their emotional impact with strange editing.  The camera always seems to cut away just when the characters are on the verge of a breakthrough and I kept wishing for more fireworks (beyond the fireworks at the wedding!).  Crudup, especially, is very restrained in this role and Quinn is not given much to do considering how integral her character is to the story.  I was hoping for more with such an interesting premise but Williams and Moore elevate it enough for me to recommend it.

Lawrence of Arabia

I tried many times, unsuccessfully, to watch Lawrence of Arabia on TV (it was my friend Tony's favorite movie) but I always fell asleep.  I finally came to the realization that it is a movie that really needs to be seen on the big screen to be appreciated.  When I saw it as part of the Megaplex Silver Screen Classics series a few years ago, I was absolutely captivated and I couldn't believe that I ever found it to be boring.  I was so excited to see it again as part of the TCM Big Screen Classics series yesterday and, once again, I thought it was a masterpiece.  It tells the true story of T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole), a British officer who was able to unite a group of warring Arab tribesman to take the cities of Aqaba and Damascus from the Turks during World War I.  O'Toole (in his movie debut) is absolutely brilliant as a man who starts to believe in his own mythology but then ultimately becomes disillusioned by the necessity of violence, the perfidy of the British, and the renewal of tribal hostilities.  Much has been made about how handsome O'Toole is but it is Omar Sharif, who plays a tribal leader, who makes me swoon!  The rest of all-star cast, including Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, Jose Ferrer, Arthur Kennedy, and Claude Rains, is also outstanding.  This movie is truly epic and I really enjoyed all of the locations around the world used in filming.  The first time I watched it all the way though, I thought that British Headquarters in Cairo looked a lot like the Plaza de Espana in Spain and this time around I paid particular attention and then looked it up to confirm it.  I was right!  I loved the breathtaking cinematography, especially the widescreen shots of camels racing across the desert or of the rising sun, and the atmospheric score by Maurice Jarre.  It is almost four hours long (plus an intermission) but I found it to be riveting and I highly recommend seeing it when it is screened again on Wednesday (go here for tickets and information).

Sting with the Utah Symphony at USANA

What an unforgettable evening with Sting and the Utah Symphony!  I have seen Sting in concert several times (including, rather memorably, at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver and then in SLC the very next night with my friend Tony) but the concert last night at USANA might be my favorite!  It was absolutely brilliant and what made it even better was that it benefitted the Zion Forever Project in commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of Zion National Park, one of my favorite places on Earth!  The Utah Symphony began the evening with Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man and Gershwin's An American in Paris which were lovely.  After the intermission, Sting came on stage and performed "Englishman in New York" to the delight of the crowd.  During the chorus he incited the crowd to sing along with just the mere flick of his fingers and we responded enthusiastically (and not for the last time).  He then became quite the raconteur as he told amusing anecdotes about each of his songs.  I especially loved the story about how he came to write "Roxanne" and I loved the sultry arrangement of it that he performed with the orchestra.  Then he performed "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," "Fields of Gold," and "When We Dance."  A highlight for me came next when he sang the title song from the musical The Last Ship which he wrote about the community where he grew up.  I had the opportunity to see PTC's production of this show on the night that Sting attended a performance.  It was amazing to watch him (I was six rows behind him) react to what was happening on stage so I loved hearing him sing this song.  He told personal stories about his relationship with his father before singing "Why Should I Cry for You," his relationship with his wife before singing "The End of the Game," and his childhood dream of being a cowboy before singing "I Hung My Head."  He was so charming and he seemed genuinely moved by the crowd's reactions!  He ended his set with "King of Pain" and "Every Breath You Take" which brought back so many memories of high school.  It was interesting to me how great the old Police songs sounded with symphonic arrangements!  For the encore he performed an amazing rendition of "Desert Rose" which got the crowd on their feet and then ended the evening with "Fragile."  I loved every minute of this concert and I won't soon forget it!

Note:  This was my third concert at USANA in a week.  It has been so much fun but I am really tired!